diff --git a/api/boinc_api.cpp b/api/boinc_api.cpp
index be7b345d3e..6b1709f6d0 100644
--- a/api/boinc_api.cpp
+++ b/api/boinc_api.cpp
@@ -1052,7 +1052,8 @@ int boinc_report_app_status_aux(
     double _fraction_done,
     int other_pid,
     double _bytes_sent,
-    double _bytes_received
+    double _bytes_received,
+    double wss
 ) {
     char msg_buf[MSG_CHANNEL_SIZE], buf[1024];
     if (standalone) return 0;
@@ -1081,6 +1082,10 @@ int boinc_report_app_status_aux(
         sprintf(buf, "<sporadic_ac>%d</sporadic_ac>\n", ac_state);
         strlcat(msg_buf, buf, sizeof(msg_buf));
     }
+    if (wss) {
+        sprintf(buf, "<wss>%f</wss>\n", wss);
+        strlcat(msg_buf, buf, sizeof(msg_buf));
+    }
 #ifdef MSGS_FROM_FILE
     if (fout) {
         fputs(msg_buf, fout);
@@ -1100,7 +1105,7 @@ int boinc_report_app_status(
     double _fraction_done
 ){
     return boinc_report_app_status_aux(
-        cpu_time, checkpoint_cpu_time, _fraction_done, 0, 0, 0
+        cpu_time, checkpoint_cpu_time, _fraction_done, 0, 0, 0, 0
     );
 }
 
diff --git a/api/boinc_api.h b/api/boinc_api.h
index acb65bb845..758cf7e55b 100644
--- a/api/boinc_api.h
+++ b/api/boinc_api.h
@@ -138,7 +138,8 @@ extern int boinc_upload_status(std::string& name);
 extern char* boinc_msg_prefix(char*, int);
 extern int boinc_report_app_status_aux(
     double cpu_time, double checkpoint_cpu_time, double _fraction_done,
-    int other_pid, double bytes_sent, double bytes_received
+    int other_pid, double bytes_sent, double bytes_received,
+    double wss
 );
 extern int boinc_temporary_exit(
     int delay, const char* reason=NULL, bool is_notice=false
diff --git a/client/app.cpp b/client/app.cpp
index eda742eb22..8fbfba2c77 100644
--- a/client/app.cpp
+++ b/client/app.cpp
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ ACTIVE_TASK::ACTIVE_TASK() {
     peak_disk_usage = 0;
     once_ran_edf = false;
 
+    wss_from_app = 0;
     fraction_done = 0;
     fraction_done_elapsed_time = 0;
     first_fraction_done = 0;
@@ -420,6 +421,8 @@ void ACTIVE_TASK_SET::get_memory_usage() {
             // at least on Windows.  Use the VM size instead.
             //
             pi.working_set_size_smoothed = atp->wup->rsc_memory_bound;
+        } else if (atp->wss_from_app > 0) {
+            pi.working_set_size_smoothed = .5*(pi.working_set_size_smoothed + atp->wss_from_app);
         } else {
             pi.working_set_size_smoothed = .5*(pi.working_set_size_smoothed + pi.working_set_size);
         }
diff --git a/client/app.h b/client/app.h
index d7b306bea2..72534512ef 100644
--- a/client/app.h
+++ b/client/app.h
@@ -53,12 +53,14 @@ typedef int PROCESS_ID;
 
 // Represents a job in progress.
 
-// When an active task is created, it is assigned a "slot"
+// When a job is started, it is assigned a "slot"
 // which determines the directory it runs in.
-// This doesn't change over the life of the active task;
-// thus the task can use the slot directory for temp files
+// This doesn't change over the life of the job;
+// so it can use the slot directory for temp files
 // that BOINC doesn't know about.
 
+// If you add anything, initialize it in the constructor
+//
 struct ACTIVE_TASK {
 #ifdef _WIN32
     HANDLE process_handle, shm_handle;
@@ -100,8 +102,12 @@ struct ACTIVE_TASK {
         // most recent CPU time reported by app
     bool once_ran_edf;
 
-    // END OF ITEMS SAVED IN STATE FILE
+    // END OF ITEMS SAVED IN STATE FILES
 
+    double wss_from_app;
+        // work set size reported by the app
+        // (e.g. docker_wrapper does this).
+        // If nonzero, use this instead of procinfo data
     double fraction_done;
         // App's estimate of how much of the work unit is done.
         // Passed from the application via an API call;
diff --git a/client/app_control.cpp b/client/app_control.cpp
index b03a9875db..14c628461c 100644
--- a/client/app_control.cpp
+++ b/client/app_control.cpp
@@ -1439,8 +1439,23 @@ bool ACTIVE_TASK::get_app_status_msg() {
             }
         }
     }
-    parse_double(msg_buf, "<current_cpu_time>", current_cpu_time);
-    parse_double(msg_buf, "<checkpoint_cpu_time>", checkpoint_cpu_time);
+    if (parse_double(msg_buf, "<current_cpu_time>", current_cpu_time)) {
+        if (current_cpu_time < 0) {
+            msg_printf(result->project, MSG_INFO,
+                "app reporting negative CPU: %f", current_cpu_time
+            );
+            current_cpu_time = 0;
+        }
+    }
+    if (parse_double(msg_buf, "<checkpoint_cpu_time>", checkpoint_cpu_time)) {
+        if (checkpoint_cpu_time < 0) {
+            msg_printf(result->project, MSG_INFO,
+                "app reporting negative checkpoint CPU: %f", checkpoint_cpu_time
+            );
+            checkpoint_cpu_time = 0;
+        }
+    }
+    parse_double(msg_buf, "<wss>", wss_from_app);
     parse_double(msg_buf, "<fpops_per_cpu_sec>", result->fpops_per_cpu_sec);
     parse_double(msg_buf, "<fpops_cumulative>", result->fpops_cumulative);
     parse_double(msg_buf, "<intops_per_cpu_sec>", result->intops_per_cpu_sec);
@@ -1470,18 +1485,6 @@ bool ACTIVE_TASK::get_app_status_msg() {
     if (parse_int(msg_buf, "<sporadic_ac>", i)) {
         sporadic_ac_state = (SPORADIC_AC_STATE)i;
     }
-    if (current_cpu_time < 0) {
-        msg_printf(result->project, MSG_INFO,
-            "app reporting negative CPU: %f", current_cpu_time
-        );
-        current_cpu_time = 0;
-    }
-    if (checkpoint_cpu_time < 0) {
-        msg_printf(result->project, MSG_INFO,
-            "app reporting negative checkpoint CPU: %f", checkpoint_cpu_time
-        );
-        checkpoint_cpu_time = 0;
-    }
     return true;
 }
 
diff --git a/samples/docker_wrapper/docker_wrapper.cpp b/samples/docker_wrapper/docker_wrapper.cpp
index 70d9df0039..09458bc445 100644
--- a/samples/docker_wrapper/docker_wrapper.cpp
+++ b/samples/docker_wrapper/docker_wrapper.cpp
@@ -79,14 +79,16 @@ using std::string;
 using std::vector;
 
 #define POLL_PERIOD 1.0
+#define STATUS_PERIOD 10
+    // reports status this often
 
 enum JOB_STATUS {JOB_IN_PROGRESS, JOB_SUCCESS, JOB_FAIL};
 
 struct RSC_USAGE {
-    double cpu_time;
+    double cpu_frac;
     double wss;
     void clear() {
-        cpu_time = 0;
+        cpu_frac = 0;
         wss = 0;
     }
 };
@@ -442,7 +444,10 @@ void poll_client_msgs() {
     }
 }
 
-JOB_STATUS poll_app(RSC_USAGE &ru) {
+// check whether job has exited
+// Note: on both Podman and Docker this takes significant CPU time
+// (like .03 sec) so do it infrequently (like 5 sec)
+JOB_STATUS poll_app() {
     char cmd[1024];
     vector<string> out;
     int retval;
@@ -461,6 +466,41 @@ JOB_STATUS poll_app(RSC_USAGE &ru) {
     return JOB_FAIL;
 }
 
+// get CPU and mem usage
+// This is also surprisingly slow
+int get_stats(RSC_USAGE &ru) {
+    char cmd[1024];
+    vector<string> out;
+    int retval;
+    unsigned int n;
+
+    sprintf(cmd,
+        "%s stats --no-stream  --format \"{{.CPUPerc}} {{.MemUsage}}\" %s",
+        cli_prog, container_name
+    );
+    retval = run_docker_command(cmd, out);
+    if (retval) return -1;
+    n = out.size();
+    if (n == 0) return -1;
+    const char *buf = out[n-1].c_str();
+    // output is like
+    // 0.00% 420KiB / 503.8GiB
+    double cpu_pct, mem;
+    char mem_unit;
+    n = sscanf(buf, "%lf%% %lf%c", &cpu_pct, &mem, &mem_unit);
+    if (n != 3) return -1;
+    switch (mem_unit) {
+    case 'G': mem *= GIGA; break;
+    case 'M': mem *= MEGA; break;
+    case 'K': mem *= KILO; break;
+    case 'B': break;
+    default: return -1;
+    }
+    ru.cpu_frac = cpu_pct/100.;
+    ru.wss = mem;
+    return 0;
+}
+
 #ifdef _WIN32
 // find a WSL distro with Docker and set up a command link to it
 //
@@ -543,6 +583,14 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
     }
     if (verbose) config.print();
 
+    if (sporadic) {
+        retval = boinc_sporadic_dir(".");
+        if (retval) {
+            fprintf(stderr, "can't create sporadic files\n");
+            boinc_finish(retval);
+        }
+    }
+
 #ifdef _WIN32
     retval = wsl_init();
     if (retval) {
@@ -578,18 +626,35 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
         boinc_finish(1);
     }
     running = true;
-    while (1) {
+    double cpu_time = 0;
+    for (int i=0; ; i++) {
         poll_client_msgs();
-        switch(poll_app(ru)) {
-        case JOB_FAIL:
-            cleanup();
-            boinc_finish(1);
-            break;
-        case JOB_SUCCESS:
-            copy_files_from_container();
-            cleanup();
-            boinc_finish(0);
-            break;
+        if (i%STATUS_PERIOD == 0) {
+            switch(poll_app()) {
+            case JOB_FAIL:
+                cleanup();
+                boinc_finish(1);
+                break;
+            case JOB_SUCCESS:
+                copy_files_from_container();
+                cleanup();
+                boinc_finish(0);
+                break;
+            default:
+                break;
+            }
+            retval = get_stats(ru);
+            if (!retval) {
+                cpu_time += STATUS_PERIOD*ru.cpu_frac;
+                boinc_report_app_status_aux(
+                    cpu_time,
+                    0,      // checkpoint CPU time
+                    0,      // frac done
+                    0,      // other PID
+                    0,0,    // bytes send/received
+                    ru.wss
+                );
+            }
         }
         boinc_sleep(POLL_PERIOD);
     }
diff --git a/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox_common.cpp b/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox_common.cpp
index 42664be020..cd42a816ef 100644
--- a/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox_common.cpp
+++ b/samples/vboxwrapper/vbox_common.cpp
@@ -316,7 +316,8 @@ void VBOX_VM::report_clean(
                 fraction_done,
                 vm_pid,
                 bytes_sent,
-                bytes_received
+                bytes_received,
+                0
             );
         }
 
diff --git a/samples/vboxwrapper/vboxwrapper.cpp b/samples/vboxwrapper/vboxwrapper.cpp
index 9f15ee68ae..75eec21aa6 100644
--- a/samples/vboxwrapper/vboxwrapper.cpp
+++ b/samples/vboxwrapper/vboxwrapper.cpp
@@ -889,7 +889,8 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
         fraction_done,
         pVM->vm_pid,
         bytes_sent,
-        bytes_received
+        bytes_received,
+        0
     );
 
     // Wait for up to 5 minutes for the VM to switch states.
@@ -1373,7 +1374,8 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
                 fraction_done,
                 pVM->vm_pid,
                 bytes_sent,
-                bytes_received
+                bytes_received,
+                0
             );
 
             if (!retval) {