We may define a topological manifold to be a second-countable Hausdorff space such that every point has an open neighborhood homeomorphic to an open subset of $\mathbb{R}^n$. We can further define a smooth manifold to be a topological manifold equipped with a structure sheaf of rings of smooth functions by transport of structure from $\mathbb{R}^n$, since $\mathbb{R}^n$ has a canonical sheaf of differentiable functions $\mathbb{R}^n\to \mathbb{R}$, with a canonical restriction sheaf to any open subset. This gives a manifold as a locally ringed space. (Of course this definition generalizes to all sorts of other kinds of manifolds with minor adjustments).

Then the questions: If we totally ignore the definition using atlases, will we at some point hit a wall? Can we fully develop differential geometry without ever resorting to atlases?

Regardless of the above answer, are there any books that develop differential geometry primarily from a "locally ringed space" viewpoint, dropping into the language of atlases only when necessary? I looked at Kashiwara & Schapira's "Sheaves on Manifolds", but that's much more focused on sheaves of abelian groups and (co)homology.

We may define a topological manifold to be a second-countable Hausdorff space such that every point has an open neighborhood homeomorphic to an open subset of $\mathbb{R}^n$. We can further define a smooth manifold to be a topological manifold equipped with a structure sheaf of rings of smooth functions by transport of structure from $\mathbb{R}^n$, since $\mathbb{R}^n$ has a canonical sheaf of differentiable functions $\mathbb{R}^n\to \mathbb{R}$, with a canonical restriction sheaf to any open subset. This gives a manifold as a locally ringed space. (Of course this definition generalizes to all sorts of other kinds of manifolds with minor adjustments).

Then the questions: If we totally ignore the definition using atlases, will we at some point hit a wall? Can we fully develop differential geometry without ever resorting to atlases?

Regardless of the above answer, are there any books that develop differential geometry primarily from a "locally ringed space" viewpoint, dropping into the language of atlases only when necessary? I looked at Kashiwara & Schapira's "Sheaves on Manifolds", but that's much more focused on sheaves of abelian groups and (co)homology.

Edit:

To clarify (Since Pete and Kevin misunderstood): It's easy to show that the approaches are equivalent, but proofs using charts don't always translate easily to proofs using sheaves.

We may define a topological manifold to be a second-countable Hausdorff space such that every point has an open neighborhood homeomorphic to an open subset of $\mathbb{R}^n$. We can further define a smooth manifold to be a topological manifold equipped with a structure sheaf of rings of smooth functions by transport of structure from $\mathbb{R}^n$, since $\mathbb{R}^n$ has a canonical sheaf of differentiable functions $\mathbb{R}^n\to \mathbb{R}$, with a canonical restriction sheaf to any open subset. This gives a manifold as a locally ringed space. (Of course this definition generalizes to all sorts of other kinds of manifolds with minor adjustments).

Then the questions: If we totally ignore the definition using atlases, will we at some point hit a wall? Can we fully develop differential geometry without ever resorting to atlases?

Regardless of the above answer, are there any books that develop differential geometry from a "locally ringed space" viewpoint? I looked at Kashiwara & Schapira's "Sheaves on Manifolds", but that's much more focused on sheaves of abelian groups and (co)homology.

We may define a topological manifold to be a second-countable Hausdorff space such that every point has an open neighborhood homeomorphic to an open subset of $\mathbb{R}^n$. We can further define a smooth manifold to be a topological manifold equipped with a structure sheaf of rings of smooth functions by transport of structure from $\mathbb{R}^n$, since $\mathbb{R}^n$ has a canonical sheaf of differentiable functions $\mathbb{R}^n\to \mathbb{R}$, with a canonical restriction sheaf to any open subset. This gives a manifold as a locally ringed space. (Of course this definition generalizes to all sorts of other kinds of manifolds with minor adjustments).

Then the questions: If we totally ignore the definition using atlases, will we at some point hit a wall? Can we fully develop differential geometry without ever resorting to atlases?

Regardless of the above answer, are there any books that develop differential geometry primarily from a "locally ringed space" viewpoint, dropping into the language of atlases only when necessary? I looked at Kashiwara & Schapira's "Sheaves on Manifolds", but that's much more focused on sheaves of abelian groups and (co)homology.