diff --git a/repo2docker/docker.py b/repo2docker/docker.py
index cb3a5dba..d637674a 100644
--- a/repo2docker/docker.py
+++ b/repo2docker/docker.py
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ class DockerContainer(Container):
     def stop(self, *, timeout=10):
         return self._c.stop(timeout=timeout)
 
+    def wait(self):
+        return self._c.wait()
+
     @property
     def exitcode(self):
         return self._c.attrs["State"]["ExitCode"]
@@ -61,7 +64,7 @@ class DockerEngine(ContainerEngine):
         dockerfile="",
         fileobj=None,
         path="",
-        **kwargs
+        **kwargs,
     ):
         return self._apiclient.build(
             buildargs=buildargs,
@@ -99,7 +102,7 @@ class DockerEngine(ContainerEngine):
         publish_all_ports=False,
         remove=False,
         volumes=None,
-        **kwargs
+        **kwargs,
     ):
         client = docker.from_env(version="auto")
         container = client.containers.run(
diff --git a/repo2docker/engine.py b/repo2docker/engine.py
index 6b9fa117..2db8bfca 100644
--- a/repo2docker/engine.py
+++ b/repo2docker/engine.py
@@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ class Container(ABC):
         timeout : If the container doesn't gracefully stop after this timeout kill it
         """
 
+    @abstractmethod
+    def wait(self):
+        """
+        Wait for the container to stop
+        """
+
     @property
     @abstractmethod
     def exitcode(self):
@@ -161,7 +167,7 @@ class ContainerEngine(LoggingConfigurable):
         dockerfile="",
         fileobj=None,
         path="",
-        **kwargs
+        **kwargs,
     ):
         """
         Build a container
@@ -255,7 +261,7 @@ class ContainerEngine(LoggingConfigurable):
         publish_all_ports=False,
         remove=False,
         volumes={},
-        **kwargs
+        **kwargs,
     ):
         """
         Run a container