diff --git a/app/services/create_deployment_service.rb b/app/services/create_deployment_service.rb
index 47c740addb03fe1f2396396c904e5cbc48e4f44b..2e859a30cac751c38f96924751ad43da6467d630 100644
--- a/app/services/create_deployment_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/create_deployment_service.rb
@@ -6,14 +6,12 @@ class CreateDeploymentService < BaseService
 
     ActiveRecord::Base.transaction do
       @deployable = deployable
-      @environment = prepare_environment
+      @environment = environment
+      @environment.external_url = expanded_url if expanded_url
+      @environment.state_event = action
+      @environment.save
 
-      if stop?
-        @environment.stop
-        return
-      end
-
-      @environment.start
+      return if @environment.stopped?
 
       deploy.tap do |deployment|
         deployment.update_merge_request_metrics!
@@ -37,10 +35,8 @@ class CreateDeploymentService < BaseService
       deployable: @deployable)
   end
 
-  def prepare_environment
-    project.environments.find_or_create_by(name: expanded_name) do |environment|
-      environment.external_url = expanded_url
-    end
+  def environment
+    @environment ||= project.environments.find_or_create_by(name: expanded_name)
   end
 
   def expanded_name
@@ -69,7 +65,7 @@ class CreateDeploymentService < BaseService
     params[:variables] || []
   end
 
-  def stop?
-    params[:options].fetch(:stop, false)
+  def action
+    params[:options].fetch(:action, 'start')
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/ci/config/node/environment.rb b/lib/gitlab/ci/config/node/environment.rb
index daa115f9017a7b3c6f9f17faafc4a334bc5f80fd..1c1d07843b117eb7330d2e2496f8a283cf2b8fde 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/ci/config/node/environment.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/ci/config/node/environment.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ module Gitlab
         class Environment < Entry
           include Validatable
 
-          ALLOWED_KEYS = %i[name url close]
+          ALLOWED_KEYS = %i[name url action on_stop]
 
           validations do
             validate do
@@ -36,7 +36,11 @@ module Gitlab
                         addressable_url: true,
                         allow_nil: true
 
-              validates :close, boolean: true, allow_nil: true
+              validates :action,
+                        inclusion: { in: %w[start stop], message: 'should be start or stop, ' },
+                        allow_nil: true
+
+              validates :on_stop, string: true, allow_nil: true
             end
           end
 
@@ -56,9 +60,13 @@ module Gitlab
             value[:url]
           end
 
+          def action
+            value[:action] || 'start'
+          end
+
           def value
             case @config
-            when String then { name: @config }
+            when String then { name: @config, action: 'start' }
             when Hash then @config
             else {}
             end