diff --git a/news/111.feature b/news/111.feature
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..92ec7679213becfb1ef60c76d969358e349fb137
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/111.feature
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add a new command to search for packages
diff --git a/pdm/_types.py b/pdm/_types.py
index 02128b5a99ee90611e94c0ffb458762e6dc3317f..f7d1dd577bfb855bd3f3c95b759cc74eb7417f77 100644
--- a/pdm/_types.py
+++ b/pdm/_types.py
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ from typing import Dict, List, Tuple, Union
 Source = Dict[str, Union[str, bool]]
 RequirementDict = Union[str, Dict[str, Union[bool, str]]]
 CandidateInfo = Tuple[List[str], str, str]
+SearchResult = List[Dict[str, Union[str, List[str]]]]
diff --git a/pdm/cli/actions.py b/pdm/cli/actions.py
index 1890f91d9d44365e0dfcb34e619d25773591ecf5..39dcebbf2f3e6e00ea0edb9f0989062ec126f9ad 100644
--- a/pdm/cli/actions.py
+++ b/pdm/cli/actions.py
@@ -429,6 +429,7 @@ def do_info(
     python_version = get_python_version(python_path, True)
     if not python and not show_project and not env:
         rows = [
+            (stream.cyan("PDM version:", bold=True), project.core.version),
             (
                 stream.cyan("Python Interpreter:", bold=True),
                 python_path + f" ({python_version})",
diff --git a/pdm/cli/commands/search.py b/pdm/cli/commands/search.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..bc2fbc0c293d119a37a68b3e57e2d6c3c88ab654
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pdm/cli/commands/search.py
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+import argparse
+import sys
+import textwrap
+from shutil import get_terminal_size
+
+from pkg_resources import safe_name
+
+from pdm.cli.commands.base import BaseCommand
+from pdm.iostream import stream
+from pdm.project import Project
+from pdm.utils import highest_version
+
+
+def print_results(hits, working_set, terminal_width=None):
+    if not hits:
+        return
+    name_column_width = (
+        max(
+            [
+                len(hit["name"]) + len(highest_version(hit.get("versions", ["-"])))
+                for hit in hits
+            ]
+        )
+        + 4
+    )
+
+    for hit in hits:
+        name = hit["name"]
+        summary = hit["summary"] or ""
+        latest = highest_version(hit.get("versions", ["-"]))
+        if terminal_width is not None:
+            target_width = terminal_width - name_column_width - 5
+            if target_width > 10:
+                # wrap and indent summary to fit terminal
+                summary = textwrap.wrap(summary, target_width)
+                summary = ("\n" + " " * (name_column_width + 2)).join(summary)
+        current_width = len(name) + len(latest) + 4
+        spaces = " " * (name_column_width - current_width)
+        line = "{name} ({latest}){spaces} - {summary}".format(
+            name=stream.green(name, bold=True),
+            latest=stream.yellow(latest),
+            spaces=spaces,
+            summary=summary,
+        )
+        try:
+            stream.echo(line)
+            if safe_name(name).lower() in working_set:
+                dist = working_set[safe_name(name).lower()]
+                if dist.version == latest:
+                    stream.echo("  INSTALLED: %s (latest)" % dist.version)
+                else:
+                    stream.echo("  INSTALLED: %s" % dist.version)
+                    stream.echo("  LATEST:    %s" % latest)
+        except UnicodeEncodeError:
+            pass
+
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    """Search for PyPI packages"""
+
+    def add_arguments(self, parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
+        parser.add_argument("query")
+
+    def handle(self, project: Project, options: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
+        result = project.get_repository().search(options.query)
+        terminal_width = None
+        if sys.stdout.isatty():
+            terminal_width = get_terminal_size()[0]
+        print_results(result, project.environment.get_working_set(), terminal_width)
diff --git a/pdm/exceptions.py b/pdm/exceptions.py
index 63cbd8d25b2bce28b052a86fa462f4e75ce9807a..9b33589411d636f8179aa2fdd8f6a3cee336a4d2 100644
--- a/pdm/exceptions.py
+++ b/pdm/exceptions.py
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ class CorruptedCacheError(PdmException):
     pass
 
 
+class PackageIndexError(PdmException):
+    pass
+
+
 class CandidateInfoNotFound(PdmException):
     def __init__(self, candidate):
         message = (
diff --git a/pdm/iostream.py b/pdm/iostream.py
index 3a51f3fd24d0e29f5a9175366cc64251ef280cdc..b427a6f28ff238a55063ef884b5664e332786cbb 100644
--- a/pdm/iostream.py
+++ b/pdm/iostream.py
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class IOStream:
             return click.style(text, *args, **kwargs)
 
     def display_columns(
-        self, rows: List[str], header: Optional[List[str]] = None
+        self, rows: List[List[str]], header: Optional[List[str]] = None
     ) -> None:
         """Print rows in aligned columns.
 
diff --git a/pdm/models/repositories.py b/pdm/models/repositories.py
index 6086bd096a5e3701fff0aa6398f6a0129ed24844..856cfa76a64f7c91a45749d5a4b58713f9f24aa1 100644
--- a/pdm/models/repositories.py
+++ b/pdm/models/repositories.py
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import sys
+import xmlrpc.client as xmlrpc_client
 from functools import wraps
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Callable, Dict, Iterable, List, Optional, Tuple
 
-from pdm._types import CandidateInfo, Source
-from pdm.exceptions import CandidateInfoNotFound, CorruptedCacheError
+from pdm._types import CandidateInfo, SearchResult, Source
+from pdm.exceptions import CandidateInfoNotFound, CorruptedCacheError, PackageIndexError
 from pdm.models.candidates import Candidate
 from pdm.models.requirements import (
     Requirement,
@@ -13,7 +14,8 @@ from pdm.models.requirements import (
     parse_requirement,
 )
 from pdm.models.specifiers import PySpecSet, SpecifierSet
-from pdm.utils import allow_all_wheels
+from pdm.models.xmlrpc import PyPIXmlrpcTransport
+from pdm.utils import allow_all_wheels, highest_version
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from pdm.models.environment import Environment
@@ -159,6 +161,14 @@ class BaseRepository:
         """
         raise NotImplementedError
 
+    def search(self, query: str) -> SearchResult:
+        """Search package by name or summary.
+
+        :param query: query string
+        :returns: search result, a dictionary of name: package metadata
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
 
 class PyPIRepository(BaseRepository):
     """Get package and metadata from PyPI source."""
@@ -245,3 +255,34 @@ class PyPIRepository(BaseRepository):
                 key=lambda c: c.version,
             )
         return sorted_cans
+
+    def search(self, query: str) -> SearchResult:
+        pypi_simple = self.sources[0]["url"]
+        if not pypi_simple.endswith("/simple"):
+            raise PackageIndexError(f"{pypi_simple} doesn't support '/pypi' endpoint.")
+        pypi_url = pypi_simple[:-6] + "pypi"
+        with self.environment.get_finder() as finder:
+            transport = PyPIXmlrpcTransport(pypi_url, finder.session)
+            pypi = xmlrpc_client.ServerProxy(pypi_url, transport)
+            hits = pypi.search({"name": query, "summary": query}, "or")
+
+        packages = {}
+        for hit in hits:
+            name = hit["name"]
+            summary = hit["summary"]
+            version = hit["version"]
+
+            if name not in packages.keys():
+                packages[name] = {
+                    "name": name,
+                    "summary": summary,
+                    "versions": [version],
+                }
+            else:
+                packages[name]["versions"].append(version)
+
+                # if this is the highest version, replace summary and score
+                if version == highest_version(packages[name]["versions"]):
+                    packages[name]["summary"] = summary
+
+        return list(packages.values())
diff --git a/pdm/models/xmlrpc.py b/pdm/models/xmlrpc.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..49eae6879d537d2058bbe9fc1e84964415b25814
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pdm/models/xmlrpc.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import urllib.parse as urllib_parse
+import xmlrpc.client as xmlrpc_client
+
+
+class PyPIXmlrpcTransport(xmlrpc_client.Transport):
+    """Provide a `xmlrpclib.Transport` implementation via a `PipSession`
+    object.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, index_url, session, use_datetime=False):
+        xmlrpc_client.Transport.__init__(self, use_datetime)
+        index_parts = urllib_parse.urlparse(index_url)
+        self._scheme = index_parts.scheme
+        self._session = session
+
+    def request(self, host, handler, request_body, verbose=False):
+        parts = (self._scheme, host, handler, None, None, None)
+        url = urllib_parse.urlunparse(parts)
+        headers = {"Content-Type": "text/xml"}
+        response = self._session.post(
+            url, data=request_body, headers=headers, stream=True
+        )
+        response.raise_for_status()
+        self.verbose = verbose
+        return self.parse_response(response.raw)
diff --git a/pdm/project/core.py b/pdm/project/core.py
index e3ed6c4a59017be7cfbdc5d97317f57aa0e794fc..81ee090c1ac080a7015a0df998d72266dc8d4ddb 100644
--- a/pdm/project/core.py
+++ b/pdm/project/core.py
@@ -213,7 +213,9 @@ class Project:
             )
         return sources
 
-    def get_repository(self, cls: Optional[Type[BaseRepository]]) -> BaseRepository:
+    def get_repository(
+        self, cls: Optional[Type[BaseRepository]] = None
+    ) -> BaseRepository:
         """Get the repository object"""
         if cls is None:
             cls = PyPIRepository
diff --git a/pdm/utils.py b/pdm/utils.py
index 083dea18f1b6c6f47dbd21f8cb9e3c9fa1f16788..ce089439258e4ed8977971615acd2680f5591030 100644
--- a/pdm/utils.py
+++ b/pdm/utils.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ from pathlib import Path
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Dict, List, Optional, Tuple, Union
 
 from distlib.wheel import Wheel
+from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
 from pip_shims.shims import InstallCommand, PackageFinder, TargetPython, url_to_path
 
 from pdm._types import Source
@@ -500,3 +501,8 @@ def get_platform():
         # pip pull request #3497
         result = "linux_i686"
     return result
+
+
+def highest_version(versions: List[str]) -> str:
+    """Return the highest version of a given list."""
+    return max(versions, key=parse_version)
diff --git a/tests/cli/test_cli.py b/tests/cli/test_cli.py
index 2ef420e1aa277d5897ac4aefcde7bd909ae29838..7a973f40bc169ff5bc8a40a9e81aa084721793e9 100644
--- a/tests/cli/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/cli/test_cli.py
@@ -258,3 +258,9 @@ def test_pep582_not_loading_site_packages(project, invoke, capfd):
     )
     sys_path = json.loads(capfd.readouterr()[0])
     assert not any("site-packages" in p for p in sys_path)
+
+
+def test_search_package(project, invoke):
+    result = invoke(["search", "requests"], obj=project)
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert len(result.output.splitlines()) > 0