David Heinemeier Hansson
David Heinemeier Hansson, known as DHH, creates Ruby on Rails and Omarchy, builds Basecamp and HEY at 37signals, writes books with Jason Fried, and races at Le Mans.
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Latest
David’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus their backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
Overview
- Known as
- DHH
- From
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Work
- Programmer, entrepreneur, author, and racing driver
- Company
- Co-owner and CTO of 37signals
- Breakout
- Built Basecamp and created Ruby on Rails
- Books
- REWORK, REMOTE, and It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work
Mini bio
An email from Copenhagen.
On October 27, 2001, David emailed Jason Fried in Chicago with an answer to a programming question on the 37signals blog. That exchange started their working partnership. David later found that the question concerned regular expressions, correcting his own often-told version about pagination.
Making the tools he needed.
David began writing Basecamp in summer 2003 and created Ruby on Rails that year. Basecamp launched in 2004 as the original Rails application. The project management app and the framework became lasting parts of his work at 37signals.
Sharing a way of working.
With Jason Fried, he turned lessons from running the company into books, including REWORK, REMOTE, and It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work. Their subjects range from starting a business to remote collaboration and keeping work calm.
Beyond the browser.
David also races endurance cars. He won the LMGTE Am class at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans with Aston Martin and took that season’s drivers’ trophy alongside Kristian Poulsen. In 2025, he launched Omarchy to share his own Linux desktop setup.
Creditschronological, newest first
Software
- 2025OmarchyCreator
- 2020HEYCo-creator at 37signals
- 2004BasecampOriginal programmer
- 2003Ruby on RailsCreator
Books
- 2018It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at WorkCo-author with Jason Fried
- 2013REMOTE: Office Not RequiredCo-author with Jason Fried
- 2010REWORKCo-author with Jason Fried
Business
- 2024Shopify board of directorsDirector
Awards
Quotes
Constraints provide the pressure that produce diamonds.David Heinemeier Hansson, Sitting down with Senra
July 26, 2026. Reflecting on small teams and creative work: https://world.hey.com/dhh/sitting-down-with-senra-69f5e368
Trivia
- His first email to Jason Fried was sent from Copenhagen to Chicago, years before they wrote a book about remote work.
- He did much of Omarchy’s pre-release work between sessions at the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans.
- Omarchy began as a sister project to Omakub, his configured Ubuntu desktop.
Find David
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