diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 5e40ba4..1bbad72 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -404,13 +404,13 @@ const highlight = false;
 
             var refs = {};
             var get_ref = function(uri) {
-                return new Promise( resolve => {
+                return new Promise( (resolve, reject) => {
                     get_document( uri.clone().hash('').toString() ).then(function(schema){
                     refs[uri.toString()] = uri.hash() ? jsonpointer.get( schema, uri.hash() ) : schema;
                 }).then(function(){ 
                     debug('get_ref');
                     resolve();
-                });
+                }, reject);
                 });
             };
 
@@ -543,11 +543,15 @@ const highlight = false;
                     // use the normalized uri
                     parentObject.update( uri.toString() );
 
-                    debug(get_ref(uri));
-                    get_ref( uri ).finally( () => {
+                    var refp = get_ref(uri);
+                    debug(refp);
+                    refp.finally( () => {
                         throttled_render();
                         resolve();
-                    });
+                    })
+                    // avoid "unhandled rejection" error - the output may be redundant as the
+                    // browser probably already logged the failure, but better be explicit
+                    .catch(e => { console.warn("Unable to resolve $ref " + uri.toString() + ":", e); });
                 });
             }