diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 376d465b..a5ce567e 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
 [submodule "reference_sources"]
 	path = reference_sources
 	url = https://github.com/tectonic-typesetting/tectonic-staging
+[submodule "crates/bridge_harfbuzz/harfbuzz"]
+	path = crates/bridge_harfbuzz/harfbuzz
+	url = https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz.git
diff --git a/crates/bridge_harfbuzz/harfbuzz b/crates/bridge_harfbuzz/harfbuzz
new file mode 160000
index 00000000..7236c7e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/bridge_harfbuzz/harfbuzz
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 7236c7e29cef1c2d76c7a284c5081ff4d3aa1127