diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..068d5c4e813512312ae8f3f1892d82d04172a970
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+/zig-*
+/deps.zig
+/.zigmod
diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..2c49a791732be2224d28af6394bd11f7285958eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+const deps = @import("./deps.zig");
+
+pub fn build(b: *std.build.Builder) void {
+    const target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{});
+
+    const mode = b.standardReleaseOptions();
+
+    const exe = b.addExecutable("zig-leven", "src/main.zig");
+    exe.setTarget(target);
+    exe.setBuildMode(mode);
+    deps.addAllTo(exe);
+    exe.install();
+
+    const run_cmd = exe.run();
+    run_cmd.step.dependOn(b.getInstallStep());
+    if (b.args) |args| {
+        run_cmd.addArgs(args);
+    }
+
+    const run_step = b.step("run", "Run the app");
+    run_step.dependOn(&run_cmd.step);
+}
diff --git a/src/lib.zig b/src/lib.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e45925436de7d27dfa14f0c65c8b19f1c9b6d3fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+const range = @import("range").range;
+
+// // the naïve recursive implementation
+// pub fn leven(comptime T: type, a: []const T, b: []const T) usize {
+//     if (b.len == 0) return a.len;
+//     if (a.len == 0) return b.len;
+
+//     if (a[0] == b[0]) return leven(T, a[1..], b[1..]);
+
+//     return 1 + std.math.min3(
+//         leven(T, a[1..], b),
+//         leven(T, a, b[1..]),
+//         leven(T, a[1..], b[1..]),
+//     );
+// }
+
+pub fn leven(comptime T: type, alloc: *std.mem.Allocator, a: []const T, b: []const T) !usize {
+    if (std.mem.eql(T, a, b)) return 0;
+
+    var left = a;
+    var right = b;
+
+    if (left.len > right.len) {
+        left = b;
+        right = a;
+    }
+
+    var ll = left.len;
+    var rl = right.len;
+
+    {
+        const sl = suffixLen(T, a, b);
+        ll -= sl;
+        rl -= sl;
+    }
+
+    const start = prefixLen(T, a, b);
+    ll -= start;
+    rl -= start;
+
+    if (ll == 0) return rl;
+
+    var result: usize = 0;
+
+    const charCodeCache = try alloc.alloc(T, ll);
+    defer alloc.free(charCodeCache);
+
+    const array = try alloc.alloc(usize, ll);
+    defer alloc.free(array);
+
+    for (range(ll)) |_, i| {
+        charCodeCache[i] = left[start + i];
+        array[i] = i + 1;
+    }
+
+    for (range(rl)) |_, j| {
+        const bCharCode = right[start + j];
+        var temp = j;
+        result = j + 1;
+
+        for (range(ll)) |_, i| {
+            const temp2 = if (bCharCode == charCodeCache[i]) temp else temp + 1;
+            temp = array[i];
+            array[i] = if (temp > result) (if (temp2 > result) result + 1 else temp2) else (if (temp2 > temp) temp + 1 else temp2);
+            result = array[i];
+        }
+    }
+
+    return result;
+}
+
+fn prefixLen(comptime T: type, a: []const T, b: []const T) usize {
+    if (a.len == 0 or b.len == 0) return 0;
+    var i: usize = 0;
+    while (a[i] == b[i]) : (i += 1) {}
+    return i;
+}
+
+fn suffixLen(comptime T: type, a: []const T, b: []const T) usize {
+    if (a.len == 0 or b.len == 0) return 0;
+    var i: usize = 0;
+    while (a[a.len - 1 - i] == b[b.len - 1 - i]) : (i += 1) {}
+    return i;
+}
diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..536bcb3e5c2b9af15b120f4e9beb6f6c21376032
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+const leven = @import("leven").leven;
+
+pub fn main() !void {
+    var gpa = std.heap.GeneralPurposeAllocator(.{}){};
+    defer _ = gpa.deinit();
+    const alloc = &gpa.allocator;
+
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 1), try leven(u8, alloc, "a", "b"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 1), try leven(u8, alloc, "ab", "ac"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 1), try leven(u8, alloc, "ac", "bc"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 1), try leven(u8, alloc, "abc", "axc"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 3), try leven(u8, alloc, "kitten", "sitting"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 6), try leven(u8, alloc, "xabxcdxxefxgx", "1ab2cd34ef5g6"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 2), try leven(u8, alloc, "cat", "cow"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 6), try leven(u8, alloc, "xabxcdxxefxgx", "abcdefg"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 7), try leven(u8, alloc, "javawasneat", "scalaisgreat"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 3), try leven(u8, alloc, "example", "samples"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 6), try leven(u8, alloc, "sturgeon", "urgently"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 6), try leven(u8, alloc, "levenshtein", "frankenstein"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 5), try leven(u8, alloc, "distance", "difference"));
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 2), try leven(u8, alloc, "因為我是中國人所以我會說中文", "因為我是英國人所以我會說英文"));
+}
diff --git a/zig.mod b/zig.mod
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..dfcb46cdfcce6d9e9133f9c5424cf89514976d70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zig.mod
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+id: 96h80ezrvj7iqti7oar3lj30v0tg4cjii7yggcr0m9dhynfu
+name: leven
+main: src/lib.zig
+license: MIT
+description: Measure the difference between two slices using the Levenshtein distance algorithm
+dependencies:
+  - src: git https://github.com/nektro/zig-range
diff --git a/zigmod.lock b/zigmod.lock
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4abcde2af0172615d652f2b48a13934c6821abf0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zigmod.lock
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+2
+git https://github.com/nektro/zig-range commit-890ca308fe09b3d5c866d5cfb3b3d7a95dbf939f
diff --git a/zigmod.sum b/zigmod.sum
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..bdf9bd96a631d0f7e218d0fe63dcc7b18a49ea3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zigmod.sum
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+blake3-09698753782139ab4877d08f33235170836f68b73e482b65cdee5637a6addf86 git/github.com/nektro/zig-range