diff --git a/src/tasks.js b/src/tasks.js
index daa93fc39..cbf4fa5bd 100644
--- a/src/tasks.js
+++ b/src/tasks.js
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ exports = module.exports = {
     // error codes
     ESTOPPED: 'stopped',
     ECRASHED: 'crashed',
+    ETIMEOUT: 'timeout',
 
     // testing
     _TASK_IDENTITY: '_identity',
@@ -186,7 +187,7 @@ function startTask(taskId, options, callback) {
             if (!error && task.percent !== 100) { // task crashed or was killed by us
                 taskError = {
                     message: code === 0 ? `Task ${taskId} ${timedOut ? 'timed out' : 'stopped'}` : `Task ${taskId} crashed with code ${code} and signal ${signal}`,
-                    code: code === 0 ? exports.ESTOPPED : exports.ECRASHED
+                    code: code === 0 ? (timedOut ? exports.ETIMEOUT : exports.ESTOPPED) : exports.ECRASHED
                 };
                 // note that despite the update() here, we should handle the case where the box code was restarted and never got taskworker exit
                 setCompleted(taskId, { error: taskError }, NOOP_CALLBACK);