Behdad Esfahbod he/they /behˈ·dɒːd ɛs·fæhˈ·boːd/ ▶

Portrait of Behdad Esfahbod

I build open-source software for the world’s writing systems.

I’m an Iranian-Canadian software engineer and consultant, best known as the author of HarfBuzz—the text-shaping engine used across major operating systems, browsers, and apps. In Persian, my name is بهداد اسفهبد.

I’ve worked on text rendering, font-engineering tools, and internationalization for more than 25 years, beginning with Persian language support. Along the way, I’ve worked at FarsiWeb, Red Hat, Google, and Facebook.

I was born in Sari, Iran, and lived in Tehran, Toronto, Menlo Park, and Seattle before settling in Edmonton, Canada.

∞ Software Projects

Text shaping HarfBuzz Text-shaping engine used in Android, Chrome, and other platforms. Rust HarfRust A fully safe Rust port of HarfBuzz, widely used in the Rust ecosystem. Font engineering FontTools Python toolkit used by fontmake and other font production tools.

Take HarfBuzz for a spin at HarfBuzz World. More open-source projects on my GitHub. For earlier work, see Past Software Projects on the résumé page.

∞ Beyond Software

I like making things. Software is the work I’m best known for, but I don’t see it as separate from my other creative work. Whether the material is code, language, images, or leather, I tend to learn by doing and follow an idea farther than is reasonable.

Games are where these practices overlap most visibly: code, illustration, interaction, puzzles, and storytelling become one thing. In film, photography, and writing, I return often to people, memory, identity, and mental health, working in Persian as well as English.

Markéta Jakešová Much of this work is collaborative. Markéta Jakešová is my partner in life and crime, and my collaborator in writing, film, and games. Our wedding website—which grew into a pair of browser games—and its source code are public.

My interests also include food, travel, psychonautics, queerness and LGBTQ+ life, polyamory, and alternative ways of living.

∞ Lately

Since the beginning of 2026, I haven’t written a single line of code by hand. Instead, I alternate between the AI coding agents Claude and Codex for iterative implementation, testing, and code review in both software engineering and creative projects such as Loft Day. I set direction and evaluate results. My March 2026 note Embracing agentic coding captures an earlier version of this practice.

∞ Explore

∞ Around the Web

∞ Get in Touch

Email is the best way to reach me: behdad@behdad.org