 <p>This is not a perfect solution, but at least gets you going. Probably this is caused by some bug in compass which leads to invalid <code>sass_path</code>. So set the <code>sass_path</code> manually like this: </p> <pre><code>project_type = :stand_alone # Set this to the root of your project when deployed: project_path = "../../" http_path = "www" # The path to the project when running within the web server. css_dir = "www/css" # relative to project_path sass_dir = "www/sass" # relative to project_path sass_path = File.expand_path(File.join(project_path, sass_dir)) images_dir = "www/images" # relative to project_path javascripts_dir = "www/js" # relative to project_path # You can select your preferred output style here (can be overridden via the command line): # output_style = :expanded or :nested or :compact or :compressed output_style = :compressed # To enable relative paths to assets via compass helper functions. Uncomment: relative_assets = true # generate sourcemaps sourcemap = true </code></pre> <p>And then you should be able to build individual sass files by using command <code>compass compile ../../www/sass/builder.scss</code></p>