# harfbuzz/harfbuzz

HarfBuzz text shaping engine

Repository: https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/harfbuzz
Homepage: http://harfbuzz.github.io/
Language: C++
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: opentype, fonts, c-plus-plus, c, unicode, text-shaping, aat, variable-fonts, typography, text-rendering, gpu
Last push: 2026-08-26T20:24:55+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 99/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 99, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5163, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 7, "gap_med": 11, "n_releases_24m": 42}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 6039, forks 773 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:34.526316+00:00)

## What it is
HarfBuzz is a text shaping engine that converts Unicode text into properly positioned glyph output for any writing system, supporting OpenType and Apple Advanced Typography. It has grown into a full font platform with subsetting, variable-font instancing, and glyph rasterization to bitmap, vector, and GPU formats.

## Use cases
- shape text for complex scripts like Arabic or Devanagari
- render correctly positioned glyphs in a text editor or browser
- subset a font to reduce file size for web delivery
- instance a variable font at specific weight and width
- rasterize glyphs including color fonts to bitmaps or SVG
- encode glyph outlines for GPU rasterization
- integrate shaping with FreeType, CoreText, or DirectWrite

## When to choose
- you need correct text layout for any language or writing system
- you are building a rendering engine, browser, or design tool
- you need font subsetting or variable font instancing
- you want a battle-tested, widely deployed shaping library

## When to avoid
- you need font hinting, which HarfBuzz does not provide
- you only need simple Latin text with no shaping requirements
- you need a full text layout engine with line breaking and paragraph layout

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: graphics, nlp, parser, image-processing, gpu-computing
- domain: text-editors, graphics, developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: cross-platform, windows, cpp, c, wasm
- tags: text-shaping, opentype, font-subsetting, unicode, typography, variable-fonts, aat, glyph-rasterization, font-rendering, linux, macos, gpu

## Member repositories
- harfbuzz/harfbuzz (main) score 99

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:34.526316+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:48:58.430766+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:34.526316+00:00, sha b7ad0f0c7c63)
  - homepage: http://harfbuzz.github.io/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:45:15.899649+00:00, sha 62d5b454cc59)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.