diff --git a/engine/graph/actions.go b/engine/graph/actions.go
index a8c016ef..bad14c78 100644
--- a/engine/graph/actions.go
+++ b/engine/graph/actions.go
@@ -258,7 +258,9 @@ func (obj *Engine) Worker(vertex pgraph.Vertex) error {
 
 	// initialize or reinitialize the meta state for this resource uid
 	if _, exists := obj.metas[engine.PtrUID(res)]; !exists || res.MetaParams().Reset {
-		obj.metas[engine.PtrUID(res)] = &engine.MetaState{}
+		obj.metas[engine.PtrUID(res)] = &engine.MetaState{
+			CheckApplyRetry: res.MetaParams().Retry, // lookup the retry value
+		}
 	}
 
 	//defer close(obj.state[vertex].stopped) // done signal
@@ -492,7 +494,7 @@ Loop:
 
 		// retry...
 		var err error
-		var retry = res.MetaParams().Retry // lookup the retry value
+		//var retry = res.MetaParams().Retry // lookup the retry value
 		var delay uint64
 	RetryLoop:
 		for { // retry loop
@@ -542,21 +544,28 @@ Loop:
 			if obj.Debug {
 				obj.Logf("Process(%s): Return(%s)", vertex, engineUtil.CleanError(err))
 			}
+			if err == nil && res.MetaParams().RetryReset { // reset it on success!
+				obj.metas[engine.PtrUID(res)].CheckApplyRetry = res.MetaParams().Retry // lookup the retry value
+			}
 			if err == nil {
 				break RetryLoop
 			}
 			// we've got an error...
 			delay = res.MetaParams().Delay
 
-			if retry < 0 { // infinite retries
+			if obj.metas[engine.PtrUID(res)].CheckApplyRetry < 0 { // infinite retries
 				continue
 			}
-			if retry > 0 { // don't decrement past 0
-				retry--
-				obj.state[vertex].init.Logf("retrying CheckApply after %.4f seconds (%d left)", float64(delay)/1000, retry)
+			if obj.metas[engine.PtrUID(res)].CheckApplyRetry > 0 { // don't decrement past 0
+				obj.metas[engine.PtrUID(res)].CheckApplyRetry--
+				obj.state[vertex].init.Logf(
+					"retrying CheckApply after %.4f seconds (%d left)",
+					float64(delay)/1000,
+					obj.metas[engine.PtrUID(res)].CheckApplyRetry,
+				)
 				continue
 			}
-			//if retry == 0 { // optional
+			//if obj.metas[engine.PtrUID(res)].CheckApplyRetry == 0 { // optional
 			//	err = errwrap.Wrapf(err, "permanent process error")
 			//}
 
diff --git a/engine/metaparams.go b/engine/metaparams.go
index 79d951ee..2c0f2bc0 100644
--- a/engine/metaparams.go
+++ b/engine/metaparams.go
@@ -65,9 +65,16 @@ type MetaParams struct {
 	// reason to want to do something differently for the Watch errors.
 
 	// Retry is the number of times to retry on error. Use -1 for infinite.
+	// This value is used for both Watch and CheckApply.
 	Retry int16 `yaml:"retry"`
 
-	// Delay is the number of milliseconds to wait between retries.
+	// RetryReset resets the retry count for CheckApply if it succeeds. This
+	// value is currently different from the count used for Watch.
+	// TODO: Consider resetting retry count for watch if it sends an event?
+	RetryReset bool `yaml:"retryreset"`
+
+	// Delay is the number of milliseconds to wait between retries. This
+	// value is used for both Watch and CheckApply.
 	Delay uint64 `yaml:"delay"`
 
 	// Poll is the number of seconds between poll intervals. Use 0 to Watch.
@@ -227,4 +234,7 @@ func (obj *MetaParams) UnmarshalYAML(unmarshal func(interface{}) error) error {
 // changed a parameter (field) of the resource. This doesn't mean we don't want
 // to ever reset these counts. For that, flip on the reset meta param.
 type MetaState struct {
+
+	// CheckApplyRetry is the current retry count for CheckApply.
+	CheckApplyRetry int16
 }
diff --git a/lang/ast/structs.go b/lang/ast/structs.go
index a367b369..4fcf123a 100644
--- a/lang/ast/structs.go
+++ b/lang/ast/structs.go
@@ -920,6 +920,9 @@ func (obj *StmtRes) metaparams(res engine.Res) error {
 			// TODO: check that it doesn't overflow
 			meta.Retry = int16(x)
 
+		case "retryreset":
+			meta.RetryReset = v.Bool() // must not panic
+
 		case "delay":
 			x := v.Int() // must not panic
 			// TODO: check that it isn't signed
@@ -984,6 +987,9 @@ func (obj *StmtRes) metaparams(res engine.Res) error {
 				// TODO: check that it doesn't overflow
 				meta.Retry = int16(x)
 			}
+			if val, exists := v.Struct()["retryreset"]; exists {
+				meta.RetryReset = val.Bool() // must not panic
+			}
 			if val, exists := v.Struct()["delay"]; exists {
 				x := val.Int() // must not panic
 				// TODO: check that it isn't signed
@@ -1596,6 +1602,7 @@ func (obj *StmtResMeta) Init(data *interfaces.Data) error {
 	// TODO: we could add these fields dynamically if we were fancy!
 	case "noop":
 	case "retry":
+	case "retryreset":
 	case "delay":
 	case "poll":
 	case "limit":
@@ -1787,6 +1794,9 @@ func (obj *StmtResMeta) Unify(kind string) ([]interfaces.Invariant, error) {
 	case "retry":
 		invar = static(types.TypeInt)
 
+	case "retryreset":
+		invar = static(types.TypeBool)
+
 	case "delay":
 		invar = static(types.TypeInt)
 
@@ -1837,7 +1847,7 @@ func (obj *StmtResMeta) Unify(kind string) ([]interfaces.Invariant, error) {
 		// FIXME: allow partial subsets of this struct, and in any order
 		// FIXME: we might need an updated unification engine to do this
 		wrap := func(reverse *types.Type) *types.Type {
-			return types.NewType(fmt.Sprintf("struct{noop bool; retry int; delay int; poll int; limit float; burst int; reset bool; sema []str; rewatch bool; realize bool; reverse %s; autoedge bool; autogroup bool}", reverse.String()))
+			return types.NewType(fmt.Sprintf("struct{noop bool; retry int; retryreset bool; delay int; poll int; limit float; burst int; reset bool; sema []str; rewatch bool; realize bool; reverse %s; autoedge bool; autogroup bool}", reverse.String()))
 		}
 		ors := []interfaces.Invariant{}
 		invarBool := static(wrap(types.TypeBool))
diff --git a/lang/interpret_test/TestAstFunc1/resdupefields0.txtar b/lang/interpret_test/TestAstFunc1/resdupefields0.txtar
index 9baf447c..9526801a 100644
--- a/lang/interpret_test/TestAstFunc1/resdupefields0.txtar
+++ b/lang/interpret_test/TestAstFunc1/resdupefields0.txtar
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ test "test" {
 	Meta => true ?: struct{
 		noop => false,
 		retry => -1,
+		retryreset => false,
 		delay => 0,
 		poll => 5,
 		limit => 4.2,