diff --git a/src/apps.js b/src/apps.js
index 0c57ea282..39d9c2faf 100644
--- a/src/apps.js
+++ b/src/apps.js
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ exports = module.exports = {
 
     getDataDir,
     getIconPath,
+    getMemoryLimit,
 
     downloadFile,
     uploadFile,
@@ -445,6 +446,20 @@ function getIconPath(app, options, callback) {
     callback(new BoxError(BoxError.NOT_FOUND, 'No icon'));
 }
 
+function getMemoryLimit(app) {
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof app, 'object');
+
+    let memoryLimit = app.memoryLimit || app.manifest.memoryLimit || 0;
+
+    if (memoryLimit === -1) { // unrestricted
+        memoryLimit = 0;
+    } else if (memoryLimit === 0 || memoryLimit < constants.DEFAULT_MEMORY_LIMIT) { // ensure we never go below minimum (in case we change the default)
+        memoryLimit = constants.DEFAULT_MEMORY_LIMIT;
+    }
+
+    return memoryLimit;
+}
+
 function postProcess(app, domainObjectMap) {
     let result = {};
     for (let portName in app.portBindings) {
diff --git a/src/docker.js b/src/docker.js
index 24d3ee53e..2a00d9115 100644
--- a/src/docker.js
+++ b/src/docker.js
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ exports = module.exports = {
 };
 
 var addons = require('./addons.js'),
+    apps = require('./apps.js'),
     async = require('async'),
     assert = require('assert'),
     BoxError = require('./boxerror.js'),
@@ -268,14 +269,7 @@ function createSubcontainer(app, name, cmd, options, callback) {
     let appEnv = [];
     Object.keys(app.env).forEach(function (name) { appEnv.push(`${name}=${app.env[name]}`); });
 
-    // first check db record, then manifest
-    var memoryLimit = app.memoryLimit || manifest.memoryLimit || 0;
-
-    if (memoryLimit === -1) { // unrestricted
-        memoryLimit = 0;
-    } else if (memoryLimit === 0 || memoryLimit < constants.DEFAULT_MEMORY_LIMIT) { // ensure we never go below minimum (in case we change the default)
-        memoryLimit = constants.DEFAULT_MEMORY_LIMIT;
-    }
+    let memoryLimit = apps.getMemoryLimit(app);
 
     // give scheduler tasks twice the memory limit since background jobs take more memory
     // if required, we can make this a manifest and runtime argument later