diff --git a/api/agent/drivers/docker/docker.go b/api/agent/drivers/docker/docker.go
index 7009bc0e1..0c3a00f84 100644
--- a/api/agent/drivers/docker/docker.go
+++ b/api/agent/drivers/docker/docker.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/fnproject/fn/api/agent/drivers"
 	"github.com/fnproject/fn/api/common"
@@ -440,6 +441,35 @@ func (drv *DockerDriver) startTask(ctx context.Context, container string) error
 			return err
 		}
 	}
+
+	// see if there's any healthcheck, and if so, wait for it to complete
+	return drv.awaitHealthcheck(ctx, container)
+}
+
+func (drv *DockerDriver) awaitHealthcheck(ctx context.Context, container string) error {
+	// inspect the container and check if there is any health check presented,
+	// if there is, then wait for it to move to healthy before returning.
+	for {
+		select {
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return ctx.Err()
+		default:
+		}
+
+		cont, err := drv.docker.InspectContainerWithContext(container, ctx)
+		if err != nil {
+			// TODO unknown fiddling to be had
+			return err
+		}
+
+		// if no health check for this image (""), or it's healthy, then stop waiting.
+		// state machine is "starting" -> "healthy" | "unhealthy"
+		if cont.State.Health.Status == "" || cont.State.Health.Status == "healthy" {
+			break
+		}
+
+		time.Sleep(100 * time.Millisecond) // avoid spin loop in case docker is actually fast
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/api/agent/drivers/docker/docker_client.go b/api/agent/drivers/docker/docker_client.go
index ee94fd430..82b24f9bc 100644
--- a/api/agent/drivers/docker/docker_client.go
+++ b/api/agent/drivers/docker/docker_client.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ type dockerClient interface {
 	RemoveContainer(opts docker.RemoveContainerOptions) error
 	PullImage(opts docker.PullImageOptions, auth docker.AuthConfiguration) error
 	InspectImage(ctx context.Context, name string) (*docker.Image, error)
+	InspectContainerWithContext(container string, ctx context.Context) (*docker.Container, error)
 	Stats(opts docker.StatsOptions) error
 }
 
@@ -257,6 +258,18 @@ func (d *dockerWrap) InspectImage(ctx context.Context, name string) (i *docker.I
 	return i, err
 }
 
+func (d *dockerWrap) InspectContainerWithContext(container string, ctx context.Context) (c *docker.Container, err error) {
+	span, ctx := opentracing.StartSpanFromContext(ctx, "docker_inspect_container")
+	defer span.Finish()
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, retryTimeout)
+	defer cancel()
+	err = d.retry(ctx, func() error {
+		c, err = d.docker.InspectContainerWithContext(container, ctx)
+		return err
+	})
+	return c, err
+}
+
 func (d *dockerWrap) Stats(opts docker.StatsOptions) (err error) {
 	// we can't retry this one this way since the callee closes the
 	// stats chan, need a fancier retry mechanism where we can swap out