diff --git a/src/fixtures/stubbed_search_source.js b/src/fixtures/stubbed_search_source.js
index 08b43ed7d9676..1ba0239d61973 100644
--- a/src/fixtures/stubbed_search_source.js
+++ b/src/fixtures/stubbed_search_source.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ export default function stubSearchSource(Private, $q, Promise) {
   let deferedResult = $q.defer();
   const indexPattern = Private(FixturesStubbedLogstashIndexPatternProvider);
 
+  let onResultsCount = 0;
   return {
     sort: sinon.spy(),
     size: sinon.spy(),
@@ -24,11 +25,16 @@ export default function stubSearchSource(Private, $q, Promise) {
       deferedResult = $q.defer();
     },
     onResults: function () {
+      onResultsCount++;
+
       // Up to the test to resolve this manually
       // For example:
       // someHandler.resolve(require('fixtures/search_response'))
       return deferedResult.promise;
     },
+    getOnResultsCount: function () {
+      return onResultsCount;
+    },
     onError: function () { return $q.defer().promise; },
     _flatten: function () {
       return Promise.resolve({ index: indexPattern, body: {} });
diff --git a/src/ui/public/visualize/__tests__/visualize.js b/src/ui/public/visualize/__tests__/visualize.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..40253f5e862cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ui/public/visualize/__tests__/visualize.js
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+import $ from 'jquery';
+import _ from 'lodash';
+import expect from 'expect.js';
+import ngMock from 'ng_mock';
+import sinon from 'auto-release-sinon';
+import AggResponseTabifyTableGroupProvider from 'ui/agg_response/tabify/_table_group';
+import VisProvider from 'ui/vis';
+import FixturesStubbedLogstashIndexPatternProvider from 'fixtures/stubbed_logstash_index_pattern';
+import FixturesStubbedSearchSourceProvider from 'fixtures/stubbed_search_source';
+describe('visualize directive', function () {
+
+  let $rootScope;
+  let TableGroup;
+  let $compile;
+  let $scope;
+  let $el;
+  let Vis;
+  let indexPattern;
+  let fixtures;
+  let searchSource;
+
+  beforeEach(ngMock.module('kibana', 'kibana/table_vis'));
+  beforeEach(ngMock.inject(function (Private, $injector) {
+    $rootScope = $injector.get('$rootScope');
+    $compile = $injector.get('$compile');
+    fixtures = require('fixtures/fake_hierarchical_data');
+    TableGroup = Private(AggResponseTabifyTableGroupProvider);
+    Vis = Private(VisProvider);
+    indexPattern = Private(FixturesStubbedLogstashIndexPatternProvider);
+    searchSource = Private(FixturesStubbedSearchSourceProvider);
+  }));
+
+  // basically a parameterized beforeEach
+  function init(vis, esResponse) {
+    vis.aggs.forEach(function (agg, i) { agg.id = 'agg_' + (i + 1); });
+
+    $rootScope.vis = vis;
+    $rootScope.esResponse = esResponse;
+    $rootScope.uiState = require('fixtures/mock_ui_state');
+    $rootScope.searchSource = searchSource;
+    $el = $('<visualize vis="vis" search-source="searchSource" es-resp="esResponse" ui-state="uiState">');
+    $compile($el)($rootScope);
+    $rootScope.$apply();
+
+    $scope = $el.isolateScope();
+  }
+
+  function CreateVis(params, requiresSearch) {
+    return new Vis(indexPattern, {
+      type: 'table',
+      requiresSearch: requiresSearch,
+      params: params || {},
+      aggs: [
+        { type: 'count', schema: 'metric' },
+        {
+          type: 'range',
+          schema: 'bucket',
+          params: {
+            field: 'bytes',
+            ranges: [
+              { from: 0, to: 1000 },
+              { from: 1000, to: 2000 }
+            ]
+          }
+        }
+      ]
+    });
+  }
+
+  it('searchSource.onResults should not be called when requiresSearch is false', function () {
+    const requiresSearch = false;
+    init(new CreateVis(null, requiresSearch), fixtures.oneRangeBucket);
+
+    searchSource.crankResults();
+    $scope.$digest();
+    expect(searchSource.getOnResultsCount()).to.be(0);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/ui/public/visualize/visualize.js b/src/ui/public/visualize/visualize.js
index 81e7bdfb48575..5ffd16799aa49 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/visualize/visualize.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/visualize/visualize.js
@@ -171,31 +171,33 @@ uiModules
         if ($scope.renderbot) $scope.renderbot.updateParams();
       }));
 
-      $scope.$watch('searchSource', prereq(function (searchSource) {
-        if (!searchSource || attr.esResp) return;
-
-        // TODO: we need to have some way to clean up result requests
-        searchSource.onResults().then(function onResults(resp) {
-          if ($scope.searchSource !== searchSource) return;
-
-          $scope.esResp = resp;
-
-          return searchSource.onResults().then(onResults);
-        }).catch(notify.fatal);
-
-        searchSource.onError(e => {
-          $el.trigger('renderComplete');
-          if (isTermSizeZeroError(e)) {
-            return notify.error(
-              `Your visualization ('${$scope.vis.title}') has an error: it has a term ` +
-              `aggregation with a size of 0. Please set it to a number greater than 0 to resolve ` +
-              `the error.`
-            );
-          }
+      if (_.get($scope, 'vis.type.requiresSearch')) {
+        $scope.$watch('searchSource', prereq(function (searchSource) {
+          if (!searchSource || attr.esResp) return;
+
+          // TODO: we need to have some way to clean up result requests
+          searchSource.onResults().then(function onResults(resp) {
+            if ($scope.searchSource !== searchSource) return;
+
+            $scope.esResp = resp;
+
+            return searchSource.onResults().then(onResults);
+          }).catch(notify.fatal);
+
+          searchSource.onError(e => {
+            $el.trigger('renderComplete');
+            if (isTermSizeZeroError(e)) {
+              return notify.error(
+                `Your visualization ('${$scope.vis.title}') has an error: it has a term ` +
+                `aggregation with a size of 0. Please set it to a number greater than 0 to resolve ` +
+                `the error.`
+              );
+            }
 
-          notify.error(e);
-        }).catch(notify.fatal);
-      }));
+            notify.error(e);
+          }).catch(notify.fatal);
+        }));
+      }
 
       $scope.$watch('esResp', prereq(function (resp, prevResp) {
         if (!resp) return;