diff --git a/app/models/commit_status.rb b/app/models/commit_status.rb
index 842c6e5cb50d79bfa7c2b7626eb330a758aea188..1e8f28b646636bab046767445ee1965ffb924dfc 100644
--- a/app/models/commit_status.rb
+++ b/app/models/commit_status.rb
@@ -38,6 +38,13 @@ class CommitStatus < ActiveRecord::Base
   scope :retried_ordered, -> { retried.ordered.includes(project: :namespace) }
   scope :after_stage, -> (index) { where('stage_idx > ?', index) }
 
+  enum failure_reason: {
+    unknown_failure: nil,
+    job_failure: 1,
+    api_failure: 2,
+    stuck_or_timeout_failure: 3
+  }
+
   state_machine :status do
     event :process do
       transition [:skipped, :manual] => :created
@@ -79,6 +86,11 @@ class CommitStatus < ActiveRecord::Base
       commit_status.finished_at = Time.now
     end
 
+    before_transition any => :failed do |commit_status, transition|
+      failure_reason = transition.args.first
+      commit_status.failure_reason = failure_reason
+    end
+
     after_transition do |commit_status, transition|
       next if transition.loopback?
 
diff --git a/app/services/projects/update_pages_service.rb b/app/services/projects/update_pages_service.rb
index 0c131afca315d1eb8baa9c3bffc403a18f677539..ac7f4df14d73ac098a98c81bee2cb5da4868e24c 100644
--- a/app/services/projects/update_pages_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/projects/update_pages_service.rb
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def error(message, http_status = nil)
       log_error("Projects::UpdatePagesService: #{message}")
       @status.allow_failure = !latest?
       @status.description = message
-      @status.drop
+      @status.drop(:job_failure)
       super
     end
 
diff --git a/app/workers/stuck_ci_jobs_worker.rb b/app/workers/stuck_ci_jobs_worker.rb
index 8b0cfcc8af8057878753b1ac2fbf2fd31009dc10..269776a1f626e0b3dca2801aa207c030fb390ab7 100644
--- a/app/workers/stuck_ci_jobs_worker.rb
+++ b/app/workers/stuck_ci_jobs_worker.rb
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ def search(status, timeout)
   def drop_build(type, build, status, timeout)
     Rails.logger.info "#{self.class}: Dropping #{type} build #{build.id} for runner #{build.runner_id} (status: #{status}, timeout: #{timeout})"
     Gitlab::OptimisticLocking.retry_lock(build, 3) do |b|
-      b.drop
+      b.drop(:stuck_or_timeout_failure)
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/feature-sm-37239-implement-failure_reason-on-ci_builds.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/feature-sm-37239-implement-failure_reason-on-ci_builds.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..006b0b458446d47d1f96d84c489af43ec0ebf923
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/feature-sm-37239-implement-failure_reason-on-ci_builds.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: Implement `failure_reason` on `ci_builds`
+merge_request: 13937
+author:
+type: added
diff --git a/db/migrate/20170830125940_add_failure_reason_to_ci_builds.rb b/db/migrate/20170830125940_add_failure_reason_to_ci_builds.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..5a7487b9227cd6564b3a94073b278c47654d7b9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20170830125940_add_failure_reason_to_ci_builds.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+class AddFailureReasonToCiBuilds < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  include Gitlab::Database::MigrationHelpers
+
+  DOWNTIME = false
+
+  def change
+    add_column :ci_builds, :failure_reason, :integer
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index 26dddd3d74c181ada6184ae307abace4676cc3b2..4d3be96031dc45a997927ba24cc650f3958eedbf 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 #
 # It's strongly recommended that you check this file into your version control system.
 
-ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20170824162758) do
+ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20170830125940) do
 
   # These are extensions that must be enabled in order to support this database
   enable_extension "plpgsql"
@@ -301,6 +301,7 @@
     t.integer "stage_id"
     t.integer "artifacts_file_store"
     t.integer "artifacts_metadata_store"
+    t.integer "failure_reason"
   end
 
   add_index "ci_builds", ["auto_canceled_by_id"], name: "index_ci_builds_on_auto_canceled_by_id", using: :btree
diff --git a/lib/api/commit_statuses.rb b/lib/api/commit_statuses.rb
index 485b680cd5fddbdf73e5bc004fe5ee90b6ed120e..892a5e80a1b28d698580d748f78ff1aa111037c2 100644
--- a/lib/api/commit_statuses.rb
+++ b/lib/api/commit_statuses.rb
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ class CommitStatuses < Grape::API
           when 'success'
             status.success!
           when 'failed'
-            status.drop!
+            status.drop!(:api_failure)
           when 'canceled'
             status.cancel!
           else
diff --git a/lib/api/runner.rb b/lib/api/runner.rb
index 119993545947fdd3cf00cca6d05e342457b4853b..44ca42fef684ddc27e178ae684db7b15fbd0deb7 100644
--- a/lib/api/runner.rb
+++ b/lib/api/runner.rb
@@ -114,6 +114,8 @@ class Runner < Grape::API
         requires :id, type: Integer, desc: %q(Job's ID)
         optional :trace, type: String, desc: %q(Job's full trace)
         optional :state, type: String, desc: %q(Job's status: success, failed)
+        optional :failure_reason, type: String, values: CommitStatus.failure_reasons.keys,
+                                  desc: %q(Job's failure_reason)
       end
       put '/:id' do
         job = authenticate_job!
@@ -127,7 +129,11 @@ class Runner < Grape::API
         when 'success'
           job.success
         when 'failed'
-          job.drop
+          if params[:failure_reason]
+            job.drop(params[:failure_reason].to_sym)
+          else
+            job.drop(:job_failure)
+          end
         end
       end
 
diff --git a/spec/lib/gitlab/import_export/safe_model_attributes.yml b/spec/lib/gitlab/import_export/safe_model_attributes.yml
index a4ef0344ce35b11a108aa9405b01860db76efa63..30a7d9a154f3d9fb0c56b850673112ab883cb877 100644
--- a/spec/lib/gitlab/import_export/safe_model_attributes.yml
+++ b/spec/lib/gitlab/import_export/safe_model_attributes.yml
@@ -282,6 +282,7 @@ CommitStatus:
 - coverage_regex
 - auto_canceled_by_id
 - retried
+- failure_reason
 Ci::Variable:
 - id
 - project_id
diff --git a/spec/models/commit_status_spec.rb b/spec/models/commit_status_spec.rb
index f7583645e690b28254670a3257553c62ff3fc5b5..0a6b0023dea3ab652c8acc0fff1f3b890c16cd33 100644
--- a/spec/models/commit_status_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/commit_status_spec.rb
@@ -443,4 +443,25 @@ def create_status(**opts)
       end
     end
   end
+
+  describe 'set failure_reason when drop' do
+    let(:commit_status) { create(:commit_status, :created) }
+
+    subject do
+      commit_status.drop!(reason)
+      commit_status
+    end
+
+    context 'when failure_reason is nil' do
+      let(:reason) { }
+
+      it { is_expected.to be_unknown_failure }
+    end
+
+    context 'when failure_reason is job_failure' do
+      let(:reason) { :job_failure }
+
+      it { is_expected.to be_job_failure }
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/requests/api/commit_statuses_spec.rb b/spec/requests/api/commit_statuses_spec.rb
index 3c02e6302b4e15fc61be8378d527556e3a091e53..fcdcf461c52d2174b84b461b32bffb047501750f 100644
--- a/spec/requests/api/commit_statuses_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/api/commit_statuses_spec.rb
@@ -142,6 +142,9 @@ def create_status(commit, opts = {})
               expect(json_response['ref']).not_to be_empty
               expect(json_response['target_url']).to be_nil
               expect(json_response['description']).to be_nil
+              if status == 'failed'
+                expect(CommitStatus.find(json_response['id'])).to be_api_failure
+              end
             end
           end
         end
diff --git a/spec/requests/api/runner_spec.rb b/spec/requests/api/runner_spec.rb
index 4ff981330490efe495bb9b33d5d3785f45388127..5aa5f08b1829a9450ea403c2b2a18836b76d1105 100644
--- a/spec/requests/api/runner_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/api/runner_spec.rb
@@ -629,12 +629,23 @@ def request_job(token = runner.token, **params)
           update_job(state: 'success')
 
           expect(job.reload.status).to eq 'success'
+          expect(job).to be_unknown_failure
         end
 
         it 'mark job as failed' do
           update_job(state: 'failed')
 
           expect(job.reload.status).to eq 'failed'
+          expect(job).to be_job_failure
+        end
+
+        context 'when failure_reason is given' do
+          it 'mark job as failed' do
+            update_job(state: 'failed', failure_reason: 'stuck_or_timeout_failure')
+
+            expect(job.reload.status).to eq 'failed'
+            expect(job).to be_stuck_or_timeout_failure
+          end
         end
       end
 
diff --git a/spec/services/ci/retry_build_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/ci/retry_build_service_spec.rb
index 7e7a68c947b214a0674a230d4efea065ca694a64..383bd73c32daa15c6cd872b636508ea20b85a2af 100644
--- a/spec/services/ci/retry_build_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/ci/retry_build_service_spec.rb
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@
     %i[type lock_version target_url base_tags
        commit_id deployments erased_by_id last_deployment project_id
        runner_id tag_taggings taggings tags trigger_request_id
-       user_id auto_canceled_by_id retried sourced_pipelines
-       artifacts_file_store artifacts_metadata_store].freeze
+       user_id auto_canceled_by_id retried failure_reason
+       sourced_pipelines artifacts_file_store artifacts_metadata_store].freeze # EE
 
   shared_examples 'build duplication' do
     let(:stage) do
diff --git a/spec/services/projects/update_pages_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/projects/update_pages_service_spec.rb
index aa6ad6340f5c0eacff5fe0776c59b52c9a5d03a0..5fc69c7e4e56c90cd0360556d3884012d65e5357 100644
--- a/spec/services/projects/update_pages_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/projects/update_pages_service_spec.rb
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@
 
         expect(deploy_status.description)
           .to match(/artifacts for pages are too large/)
+        expect(deploy_status).to be_job_failure
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/spec/workers/stuck_ci_jobs_worker_spec.rb b/spec/workers/stuck_ci_jobs_worker_spec.rb
index 549635f7f334dba64ca5ef4f2a7dd9f8e3f629c3..ac6f4fefb4ef951d3f59036eea3dfec84442b58d 100644
--- a/spec/workers/stuck_ci_jobs_worker_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/workers/stuck_ci_jobs_worker_spec.rb
@@ -6,27 +6,31 @@
   let(:worker) { described_class.new }
   let(:exclusive_lease_uuid) { SecureRandom.uuid }
 
-  subject do
-    job.reload
-    job.status
-  end
-
   before do
     job.update!(status: status, updated_at: updated_at)
     allow_any_instance_of(Gitlab::ExclusiveLease).to receive(:try_obtain).and_return(exclusive_lease_uuid)
   end
 
   shared_examples 'job is dropped' do
-    it 'changes status' do
+    before do
       worker.perform
-      is_expected.to eq('failed')
+      job.reload
+    end
+
+    it "changes status" do
+      expect(job).to be_failed
+      expect(job).to be_stuck_or_timeout_failure
     end
   end
 
   shared_examples 'job is unchanged' do
-    it "doesn't change status" do
+    before do
       worker.perform
-      is_expected.to eq(status)
+      job.reload
+    end
+
+    it "doesn't change status" do
+      expect(job.status).to eq(status)
     end
   end