diff --git a/engine/resources/docker_image.go b/engine/resources/docker_image.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f52db9e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/resources/docker_image.go
@@ -0,0 +1,274 @@
+// Mgmt
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2019+ James Shubin and the project contributors
+// Written by James Shubin <james@shubin.ca> and the project contributors
+//
+// This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+// along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+// +build !nodocker
+
+package resources
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/engine"
+	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/engine/traits"
+
+	"github.com/docker/docker/api/types"
+	"github.com/docker/docker/api/types/filters"
+	"github.com/docker/docker/client"
+	errwrap "github.com/pkg/errors"
+)
+
+const (
+	// dockerImageInitCtxTimeout is the length of time, in seconds, before requests are
+	// cancelled in Init.
+	dockerImageInitCtxTimeout = 20
+	// dockerImageCheckApplyCtxTimeout is the length of time, in seconds, before requests
+	// are cancelled in CheckApply.
+	dockerImageCheckApplyCtxTimeout = 120
+)
+
+func init() {
+	engine.RegisterResource("docker:image", func() engine.Res { return &DockerImageRes{} })
+}
+
+// DockerImageRes is a docker image resource. The resource's name must be a
+// be a docker image in any supported format (url, image, or image:tag).
+type DockerImageRes struct {
+	traits.Base // add the base methods without re-implementation
+	traits.Edgeable
+
+	// State of the image must be exists or absent.
+	State string `yaml:"state"`
+	// APIVersion allows you to override the host's default client API version.
+	APIVersion string `yaml:"apiversion"`
+
+	image  string         // full image:tag format
+	client *client.Client // docker api client
+
+	init *engine.Init
+}
+
+// Default returns some sensible defaults for this resource.
+func (obj *DockerImageRes) Default() engine.Res {
+	return &DockerImageRes{}
+}
+
+// Validate if the params passed in are valid data.
+func (obj *DockerImageRes) Validate() error {
+	// validate state
+	if obj.State != "exists" && obj.State != "absent" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("state must be exists or absent")
+	}
+
+	// validate APIVersion
+	if obj.APIVersion != "" {
+		verOK, err := regexp.MatchString(`^(v)[1-9]\.[0-9]\d*$`, obj.APIVersion)
+		if err != nil {
+			return errwrap.Wrapf(err, "error matching apiversion string")
+		}
+		if !verOK {
+			return fmt.Errorf("invalid apiversion: %s", obj.APIVersion)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Init runs some startup code for this resource.
+func (obj *DockerImageRes) Init(init *engine.Init) error {
+	var err error
+	obj.init = init // save for later
+
+	// Save the full image name and tag.
+	obj.image = dockerImageNameTag(obj.Name())
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), dockerImageInitCtxTimeout*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	// Initialize the docker client.
+	obj.client, err = client.NewClient(client.DefaultDockerHost, obj.APIVersion, nil, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return errwrap.Wrapf(err, "error creating docker client")
+	}
+
+	// Validate the image.
+	resp, err := obj.client.ImageSearch(ctx, obj.image, types.ImageSearchOptions{Limit: 1})
+	if err != nil {
+		return errwrap.Wrapf(err, "error searching for image")
+	}
+	if len(resp) == 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("image: %s not found", obj.image)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Close is run by the engine to clean up after the resource is done.
+func (obj *DockerImageRes) Close() error {
+	return obj.client.Close() // close the docker client
+}
+
+// Watch is the primary listener for this resource and it outputs events.
+func (obj *DockerImageRes) Watch() error {
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+	defer cancel()
+
+	eventChan, errChan := obj.client.Events(ctx, types.EventsOptions{})
+
+	// notify engine that we're running
+	obj.init.Running()
+
+	var send = false // send event?
+	for {
+		select {
+		case event, ok := <-eventChan:
+			if !ok { // channel shutdown
+				return nil
+			}
+			if obj.init.Debug {
+				obj.init.Logf("%+v", event)
+			}
+			send = true
+
+		case err, ok := <-errChan:
+			if !ok {
+				return nil
+			}
+			return err
+
+		case <-obj.init.Done: // closed by the engine to signal shutdown
+			return nil
+		}
+
+		// do all our event sending all together to avoid duplicate msgs
+		if send {
+			send = false
+			obj.init.Event() // notify engine of an event (this can block)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// CheckApply method for Docker resource.
+func (obj *DockerImageRes) CheckApply(apply bool) (checkOK bool, err error) {
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), dockerImageCheckApplyCtxTimeout*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	s, err := obj.client.ImageList(ctx, types.ImageListOptions{
+		Filters: filters.NewArgs(filters.Arg("reference", obj.image)),
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, errwrap.Wrapf(err, "error listing images")
+	}
+	if len(s) > 1 {
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("more than one image found")
+	}
+
+	if obj.State == "absent" && len(s) == 0 {
+		return true, nil
+	}
+	if obj.State == "exists" && len(s) == 1 {
+		return true, nil
+	}
+
+	if !apply {
+		return false, nil
+	}
+
+	if obj.State == "absent" {
+		// TODO: force? prune children?
+		if _, err := obj.client.ImageRemove(ctx, obj.image, types.ImageRemoveOptions{}); err != nil {
+			return false, errwrap.Wrapf(err, "error removing image")
+		}
+		return false, nil
+	}
+
+	// pull the image
+	p, err := obj.client.ImagePull(ctx, obj.image, types.ImagePullOptions{})
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, errwrap.Wrapf(err, "error pulling image")
+	}
+	// Wait for the image to download, EOF signals that it's done.
+	if _, err := ioutil.ReadAll(p); err != nil {
+		return false, errwrap.Wrapf(err, "error reading image pull result")
+	}
+
+	return false, nil
+}
+
+// Cmp compares two resources and returns an error if they are not equivalent.
+func (obj *DockerImageRes) Cmp(r engine.Res) error {
+	// we can only compare DockerImageRes to others of the same resource kind
+	res, ok := r.(*DockerImageRes)
+	if !ok {
+		return fmt.Errorf("error casting r to *DockerImageRes")
+	}
+	if obj.Name() != res.Name() {
+		return fmt.Errorf("names differ")
+	}
+	if obj.APIVersion != res.APIVersion {
+		return fmt.Errorf("apiversions differ")
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// DockerImageUID is the UID struct for DockerImageRes.
+type DockerImageUID struct {
+	engine.BaseUID
+	image string
+}
+
+// UIDs includes all params to make a unique identification of this object.
+// Most resources only return one, although some resources can return multiple.
+func (obj *DockerImageRes) UIDs() []engine.ResUID {
+	x := &DockerImageUID{
+		BaseUID: engine.BaseUID{Name: obj.Name(), Kind: obj.Kind()},
+		name:    obj.Name(),
+	}
+	return []engine.ResUID{x}
+}
+
+// UnmarshalYAML is the custom unmarshal handler for this struct.
+// It is primarily useful for setting the defaults.
+func (obj *DockerImageRes) UnmarshalYAML(unmarshal func(interface{}) error) error {
+	type rawRes DockerImageRes // indirection to avoid infinite recursion
+
+	def := obj.Default()             // get the default
+	res, ok := def.(*DockerImageRes) // put in the right format
+	if !ok {
+		return fmt.Errorf("could not convert to DockerImageRes")
+	}
+	raw := rawRes(*res) // convert; the defaults go here
+
+	if err := unmarshal(&raw); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	*obj = DockerImageRes(raw) // restore from indirection with type conversion!
+	return nil
+}
+
+// dockerImageNameTag does a naive check to see if the input includes a tag or
+// is a url, and if not, appends the `:latest` tag to ensure disambiguation.
+func dockerImageNameTag(image string) string {
+	if strings.Contains(image, ":") {
+		return image
+	}
+	return image + ":latest"
+}
diff --git a/examples/lang/docker_image0.mcl b/examples/lang/docker_image0.mcl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e5d6f478
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/lang/docker_image0.mcl
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+docker:image "nginx" {
+	state => "exists",
+}