diff --git a/libs/wingsdk/src/shared/misc.ts b/libs/wingsdk/src/shared/misc.ts
index 17dff4650e0..d87cfb5a332 100644
--- a/libs/wingsdk/src/shared/misc.ts
+++ b/libs/wingsdk/src/shared/misc.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-import { ExecFileOptions, execFile } from "child_process";
+import { ExecOptions, ExecFileOptions, exec, execFile } from "child_process";
 import { readFileSync } from "fs";
 import { promisify } from "util";
 
+const execPromise = promisify(exec);
 const execFilePromise = promisify(execFile);
 
 export function readJsonSync(file: string) {
@@ -35,6 +36,19 @@ export async function runCommand(
   return stdout;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Just a helpful wrapper around `exec` that returns a promise.
+ * This will run commands through the shell, while `runCommand` doesn't.
+ */
+export async function shell(
+  cmd: string,
+  args: string[],
+  options?: ExecOptions
+): Promise<any> {
+  const { stdout } = await execPromise(cmd + " " + args.join(" "), options);
+  return stdout;
+}
+
 export function isPath(s: string) {
   s = normalPath(s);
   return s.startsWith("./") || s.startsWith("/");
diff --git a/libs/wingsdk/src/target-sim/container.inflight.ts b/libs/wingsdk/src/target-sim/container.inflight.ts
index c21e0fa4e16..b792a1c9d22 100644
--- a/libs/wingsdk/src/target-sim/container.inflight.ts
+++ b/libs/wingsdk/src/target-sim/container.inflight.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { IContainerClient, HOST_PORT_ATTR } from "./container";
 import { ContainerAttributes, ContainerSchema } from "./schema-resources";
-import { isPath, runCommand } from "../shared/misc";
+import { isPath, runCommand, shell } from "../shared/misc";
 import {
   ISimulatorContext,
   ISimulatorResourceInstance,
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ import {
 import { Duration, TraceType } from "../std";
 import { Util } from "../util";
 
+export const WING_STATE_DIR_ENV = "WING_STATE_DIR";
+
 export class Container implements IContainerClient, ISimulatorResourceInstance {
   private readonly imageTag: string;
   private readonly containerName: string;
@@ -89,7 +91,12 @@ export class Container implements IContainerClient, ISimulatorResourceInstance {
     this.log(`starting container from image ${this.imageTag}`);
     this.log(`docker ${dockerRun.join(" ")}`);
 
-    await runCommand("docker", dockerRun);
+    await shell("docker", dockerRun, {
+      env: {
+        ...process.env,
+        [WING_STATE_DIR_ENV]: this.context.statedir,
+      },
+    });
 
     this.log(`containerName=${this.containerName}`);
 
diff --git a/libs/wingsdk/src/target-sim/container.md b/libs/wingsdk/src/target-sim/container.md
index 6a150639ce5..7fe2ec02c99 100644
--- a/libs/wingsdk/src/target-sim/container.md
+++ b/libs/wingsdk/src/target-sim/container.md
@@ -44,6 +44,23 @@ new sim.Container(
 );
 ```
 
+### Retaining state
+
+When the Wing Console is closed, all containers are stopped and removed.
+To retain the state of a container across console restarts, you can mount a volume
+to a subdirectory of the resource's simulator state directory, which is available through `$WING_STATE_DIR`:
+
+```js
+new sim.Container(
+  name: "my-service",
+  image: "./my-service",
+  containerPort: 8080,
+  volumes: ["$WING_STATE_DIR/volume1:/var/data"],
+);
+```
+
+`$WING_STATE_DIR` is a directory that is unique to that `sim.Container` instance.
+
 ## API
 
 * `name` - a name for the container.
diff --git a/libs/wingsdk/test/target-sim/container.test.ts b/libs/wingsdk/test/target-sim/container.test.ts
index eae688372f9..65ec8a326d9 100644
--- a/libs/wingsdk/test/target-sim/container.test.ts
+++ b/libs/wingsdk/test/target-sim/container.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { cpSync, writeFileSync } from "fs";
+import { cpSync, writeFileSync, readdirSync } from "fs";
 import { join, basename } from "path";
 import { test, expect } from "vitest";
 import { Function, IFunctionClient } from "../../src/cloud";
@@ -172,3 +172,42 @@ test("simple container with a volume", async () => {
 
   await sim.stop();
 });
+
+test("container can mount a volume to the state directory", async () => {
+  const app = new SimApp();
+
+  const c = new Container(app, "Container", {
+    name: "my-app",
+    image: join(__dirname, "my-docker-image.mounted-volume"),
+    containerPort: 3000,
+    volumes: ["$WING_STATE_DIR:/tmp"],
+  });
+
+  new Function(
+    app,
+    "Function",
+    Testing.makeHandler(
+      `
+      async handle() {
+        const url = "http://localhost:" + this.hostPort;
+        const res = await fetch(url);
+        return res.text();
+      }
+      `,
+      { hostPort: { obj: c.hostPort, ops: [] } }
+    )
+  );
+
+  const sim = await app.startSimulator();
+  sim.onTrace({ callback: (trace) => console.log(">", trace.data.message) });
+
+  const fn = sim.getResource("root/Function") as IFunctionClient;
+  const response = await fn.invoke();
+  expect(response).contains("hello.txt");
+
+  const statedir = sim.getResourceStateDir("root/Container");
+  const files = readdirSync(statedir);
+  expect(files).toEqual(["hello.txt"]);
+
+  await sim.stop();
+});
diff --git a/libs/wingsdk/test/target-sim/my-docker-image.mounted-volume/Dockerfile b/libs/wingsdk/test/target-sim/my-docker-image.mounted-volume/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..686c128323e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libs/wingsdk/test/target-sim/my-docker-image.mounted-volume/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+FROM node:20.8.0-alpine
+EXPOSE 3000
+ADD index.js /app/index.js
+ENTRYPOINT [ "/app/index.js" ]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/libs/wingsdk/test/target-sim/my-docker-image.mounted-volume/index.js b/libs/wingsdk/test/target-sim/my-docker-image.mounted-volume/index.js
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..c4480a89e8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libs/wingsdk/test/target-sim/my-docker-image.mounted-volume/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+const http = require("http");
+const fs = require("fs");
+
+process.on("SIGINT", () => {
+  console.info("Interrupted");
+  process.exit(0);
+});
+
+const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
+  console.log(`request received: ${req.method} ${req.url}`);
+  res.end(fs.readdirSync("/tmp").join("\n"));
+});
+
+fs.writeFileSync("/tmp/hello.txt", "Hello, World!", "utf8");
+
+console.log("listening on port 3000");
+server.listen(3000);