diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 603141331..5a714407b 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -121,8 +121,6 @@ jobs:
       - run: HB_TEST_SHAPE_FUZZER_TIMEOUT=3 HB_TEST_SUBSET_FUZZER_TIMEOUT=30 RUN_VALGRIND=1 make check && make -Ctest/api check-valgrind || .ci/fail.sh
       # informational for now
       - run: make -Ctest/api check-symbols || true
-      # enable and test experimental outline drawing APIs
-      - run: make clean && HB_EXPERIMENTAL_API=1 make -j9 CPPFLAGS="-DHB_EXPERIMENTAL_API" check
 
   clang-everything:
     docker:
@@ -236,6 +234,8 @@ jobs:
       - run: meson build -Damalgam=true && ninja -Cbuild && rm -rf build
       # test meson's own unity feature also
       - run: meson build --unity on && ninja -Cbuild && rm -rf build
+      # test experimental APIs
+      - run: meson build -Dexperimental-api=true && ninja -Cbuild && rm -rf build
 
   crosscompile-notest-djgpp:
     docker:
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index f67ad2d91..016ef89cc 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -196,6 +196,10 @@ if get_option('icu-builtin')
   conf.set('HAVE_ICU_BUILTIN', 1)
 endif
 
+if get_option('experimental-api')
+  conf.set('HB_EXPERIMENTAL_API', 1)
+endif
+
 if freetype_dep.found()
   conf.set('HAVE_FREETYPE', 1)
   deps += [freetype_dep]
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 78b7f7ec0..fa72e9d8a 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -28,5 +28,7 @@ option('introspection', type : 'feature', value : 'disabled', yield : true,
 
 option('icu-builtin', type: 'boolean', value: false,
   description: 'Don\'t separate ICU support as harfbuzz-icu module')
+option('experimental-api', type: 'boolean', value: false,
+  description: 'Enable experimental APIs')
 option('amalgam', type : 'boolean', value : false,
   description : 'Enable amalgam builds')
diff --git a/src/gen-def.py b/src/gen-def.py
index b852932f7..37f54bc22 100755
--- a/src/gen-def.py
+++ b/src/gen-def.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ for h in header_paths:
 		with io.open (h, encoding='utf-8') as f: headers_content.append (f.read ())
 
 symbols = sorted (re.findall (r"^hb_\w+(?= \()", "\n".join (headers_content), re.M))
-if not os.environ.get('HB_EXPERIMENTAL_API', ''):
+if '--experimental-api' not in sys.argv:
 	# Move these to harfbuzz-sections.txt when got stable
 	experimental_symbols = \
 """hb_font_draw_glyph
diff --git a/src/main.cc b/src/main.cc
index 70c88f8f6..21bf2005d 100644
--- a/src/main.cc
+++ b/src/main.cc
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@
  * Red Hat Author(s): Behdad Esfahbod
  */
 
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+#include "config.h"
+#endif
+
 #include "hb.h"
 #include "hb-ot.h"
 
@@ -37,8 +41,7 @@
 #define hb_blob_create_from_file(x)  hb_blob_get_empty ()
 #endif
 
-#if !defined(HB_NO_COLOR) && !defined(HB_NO_DRAW)
-#ifdef HB_EXPERIMENTAL_API
+#if !defined(HB_NO_COLOR) && !defined(HB_NO_DRAW) && defined(HB_EXPERIMENTAL_API)
 static void
 svg_dump (hb_face_t *face, unsigned face_index)
 {
@@ -329,7 +332,6 @@ dump_glyphs (hb_blob_t *blob, const char *font_name)
   hb_draw_funcs_destroy (funcs);
 }
 #endif
-#endif
 
 /* Only this part of this mini app uses private API */
 #include "hb-static.cc"
@@ -504,10 +506,8 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
   hb_blob_t *blob = hb_blob_create_from_file (argv[1]);
   printf ("Opened font file %s: %d bytes long\n", argv[1], hb_blob_get_length (blob));
   print_layout_info_using_private_api (blob);
-#if !defined(HB_NO_COLOR) && !defined(HB_NO_DRAW)
-#ifdef HB_EXPERIMENTAL_API
+#if !defined(HB_NO_COLOR) && !defined(HB_NO_DRAW) && defined(HB_EXPERIMENTAL_API)
   dump_glyphs (blob, argv[1]);
-#endif
 #endif
   hb_blob_destroy (blob);
 
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index 8f21be328..1f71e1bfd 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -336,8 +336,14 @@ endif
 
 # harfbuzz
 gen_def = find_program('gen-def.py')
+
+harfbuzz_def_command_args = [gen_def, '@OUTPUT@', '@INPUT@']
+if get_option('experimental-api')
+  harfbuzz_def_command_args += '--experimental-api'
+endif
+
 harfbuzz_def = custom_target('harfbuzz.def',
-    command: [gen_def, '@OUTPUT@', '@INPUT@'],
+    command: harfbuzz_def_command_args,
     input: hb_headers,
     output: 'harfbuzz.def')
 
diff --git a/test/subset/meson.build b/test/subset/meson.build
index 35b6c0b8c..1ac81e88b 100644
--- a/test/subset/meson.build
+++ b/test/subset/meson.build
@@ -4,15 +4,15 @@ tests = [
   'cff-full-font',
   'japanese',
   'cff-japanese',
-  #'layout',
-  #'layout.gpos',
-  #'layout.gpos2',
-  #'layout.gpos3',
-  #'layout.gpos4',
-  #'layout.gpos6',
-  #'layout.gsub3',
-  #'layout.gsub6',
-  #'layout.gdef',
+  'layout',
+  'layout.gpos',
+  'layout.gpos2',
+  'layout.gpos3',
+  'layout.gpos4',
+  'layout.gpos6',
+  'layout.gsub3',
+  'layout.gsub6',
+  'layout.gdef',
   'cmap',
   'cmap14',
   'sbix',
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@ run_test = find_program('run-tests.py')
 foreach t : tests
   fname = '@0@.tests'.format(t)
 
+  # layout test are enabled only under experimental API flag for now
+  if t.contains('layout') and not get_option('experimental-api')
+    continue
+  endif
+
   test(t, run_test,
     args: [
       hb_subset,