diff --git a/docs/html/cli/index.md b/docs/html/cli/index.md
index a3497c308c2..4b56dbeb4cb 100644
--- a/docs/html/cli/index.md
+++ b/docs/html/cli/index.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ pip
 
 pip_install
 pip_uninstall
+pip_inspect
 pip_list
 pip_show
 pip_freeze
diff --git a/docs/html/cli/pip_inspect.rst b/docs/html/cli/pip_inspect.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2aa8bd3b846
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/html/cli/pip_inspect.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+.. _`pip inspect`:
+
+===========
+pip inspect
+===========
+
+.. versionadded:: 22.2
+
+
+Usage
+=====
+
+.. tab:: Unix/macOS
+
+   .. pip-command-usage:: inspect "python -m pip"
+
+.. tab:: Windows
+
+   .. pip-command-usage:: inspect "py -m pip"
+
+
+Description
+===========
+
+.. pip-command-description:: inspect
+
+The format of the JSON output is described in :doc:`../reference/inspect-report`.
+
+
+Options
+=======
+
+.. pip-command-options:: inspect
diff --git a/docs/html/reference/index.md b/docs/html/reference/index.md
index 749e88096aa..63ce1ca4dbf 100644
--- a/docs/html/reference/index.md
+++ b/docs/html/reference/index.md
@@ -10,4 +10,5 @@ build-system/index
 requirement-specifiers
 requirements-file-format
 installation-report
+inspect-report
 ```
diff --git a/docs/html/reference/inspect-report.md b/docs/html/reference/inspect-report.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4d367da9de8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/html/reference/inspect-report.md
@@ -0,0 +1,217 @@
+# `pip inspect` JSON output specification
+
+```{versionadded} 22.2
+```
+
+The `pip inspect` command produces a detailed JSON report of the Python
+environment, including installed distributions.
+
+## Specification
+
+The report is a JSON object with the following properties:
+
+- `version`: the string `0`, denoting that the inspect command is an experimental
+  feature. This value will change to `1`, when the feature is deemed stable after
+  gathering user feedback (likely in pip 22.3 or 23.0). Backward incompatible changes
+  may be introduced in version `1` without notice. After that, it will change only if
+  and when backward incompatible changes are introduced, such as removing mandatory
+  fields or changing the semantics or data type of existing fields. The introduction of
+  backward incompatible changes will follow the usual pip processes such as the
+  deprecation cycle or feature flags. Tools must check this field to ensure they support
+  the corresponding version.
+
+- `pip_version`: a string with the version of pip used to produce the report.
+
+- `installed`: an array of [InspectReportItem](InspectReportItem) representing the
+  distribution packages that are installed.
+
+- `environment`: an object describing the environment where the installation report was
+  generated. See [PEP 508 environment
+  markers](https://peps.python.org/pep-0508/#environment-markers) for more information.
+  Values have a string type.
+
+(InspectReportItem)=
+
+An `InspectReportItem` is an object describing an installed distribution package with
+the following properties:
+
+- `metadata`: the metadata of the distribution, converted to a JSON object according to
+  the [PEP 566
+  transformation](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0566/#json-compatible-metadata).
+
+- `metadata_location`: the location of the metadata of the installed distribution. Most
+  of the time this is the `.dist-info` directory. For legacy installs it is the
+  `.egg-info` directory.
+
+  ```{warning}
+  This field may not necessary point to a directory, for instance, in the case of older
+  `.egg` installs.
+  ```
+
+- `direct_url`: Information about the direct URL that was used for installation, if any,
+  using the [direct
+  URL](https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/specifications/direct-url/) data
+  structure. In most case, this field corresponds to the `direct_url.json` metadata,
+  except for legacy editable installs, where it is emulated.
+
+- `requested`: `true` if the `REQUESTED` metadata is present, `false` otherwise. This
+  field is only present for modern `.dist-info` installations.
+
+  ```{note}
+  The `REQUESTED` metadata may not be generated by all installers.
+  It is generated by pip since version 20.2.
+  ```
+
+- `installer`: the content of the `INSTALLER` metadata, if present and not empty.
+
+## Example
+
+Running the ``pip inspect`` command, in an environment where `pip` is installed in
+editable mode and `packaging` is installed as well, will produce an output similar to
+this (metadata abriged for brevity):
+
+```json
+{
+  "version": "0",
+  "pip_version": "22.2.dev0",
+  "installed": [
+    {
+      "metadata": {
+        "metadata_version": "2.1",
+        "name": "pyparsing",
+        "version": "3.0.9",
+        "summary": "pyparsing module - Classes and methods to define and execute parsing grammars",
+        "description_content_type": "text/x-rst",
+        "author_email": "Paul McGuire <ptmcg.gm+pyparsing@gmail.com>",
+        "classifier": [
+          "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
+          "Intended Audience :: Developers",
+          "Intended Audience :: Information Technology",
+          "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
+          "Operating System :: OS Independent",
+          "Programming Language :: Python",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPython",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy",
+          "Typing :: Typed"
+        ],
+        "requires_dist": [
+          "railroad-diagrams ; extra == \"diagrams\"",
+          "jinja2 ; extra == \"diagrams\""
+        ],
+        "requires_python": ">=3.6.8",
+        "project_url": [
+          "Homepage, https://github.com/pyparsing/pyparsing/"
+        ],
+        "provides_extra": [
+          "diagrams"
+        ],
+        "description": "..."
+      },
+      "metadata_location": "/home/me/.virtualenvs/demoenv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pyparsing-3.0.9.dist-info",
+      "installer": "pip",
+      "requested": false
+    },
+    {
+      "metadata": {
+        "metadata_version": "2.1",
+        "name": "packaging",
+        "version": "21.3",
+        "platform": [
+          "UNKNOWN"
+        ],
+        "summary": "Core utilities for Python packages",
+        "description_content_type": "text/x-rst",
+        "home_page": "https://github.com/pypa/packaging",
+        "author": "Donald Stufft and individual contributors",
+        "author_email": "donald@stufft.io",
+        "license": "BSD-2-Clause or Apache-2.0",
+        "classifier": [
+          "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
+          "Intended Audience :: Developers",
+          "License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software License",
+          "License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License",
+          "Programming Language :: Python",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPython",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy"
+        ],
+        "requires_dist": [
+          "pyparsing (!=3.0.5,>=2.0.2)"
+        ],
+        "requires_python": ">=3.6",
+        "description": "..."
+      },
+      "metadata_location": "/home/me/.virtualenvs/demoenv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/packaging-21.3.dist-info",
+      "installer": "pip",
+      "requested": true
+    },
+    {
+      "metadata": {
+        "metadata_version": "2.1",
+        "name": "pip",
+        "version": "22.2.dev0",
+        "summary": "The PyPA recommended tool for installing Python packages.",
+        "home_page": "https://pip.pypa.io/",
+        "author": "The pip developers",
+        "author_email": "distutils-sig@python.org",
+        "license": "MIT",
+        "classifier": [
+          "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
+          "Intended Audience :: Developers",
+          "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
+          "Topic :: Software Development :: Build Tools",
+          "Programming Language :: Python",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPython",
+          "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy"
+        ],
+        "requires_python": ">=3.7",
+        "project_url": [
+          "Documentation, https://pip.pypa.io",
+          "Source, https://github.com/pypa/pip",
+          "Changelog, https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/news/"
+        ],
+        "description": "..."
+      },
+      "metadata_location": "/home/me/pip/src/pip.egg-info",
+      "direct_url": {
+        "url": "file:///home/me/pip/src",
+        "dir_info": {
+          "editable": true
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  ],
+  "environment": {
+    "implementation_name": "cpython",
+    "implementation_version": "3.8.10",
+    "os_name": "posix",
+    "platform_machine": "x86_64",
+    "platform_release": "5.13-generic",
+    "platform_system": "Linux",
+    "platform_version": "...",
+    "python_full_version": "3.8.10",
+    "platform_python_implementation": "CPython",
+    "python_version": "3.8",
+    "sys_platform": "linux"
+  }
+}
+```
diff --git a/news/11245.feature.rst b/news/11245.feature.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ba80a8976da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/11245.feature.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Add ``pip inspect`` command to obtain the list of installed distributions and other
+information about the Python environment, in JSON format.
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/commands/__init__.py b/src/pip/_internal/commands/__init__.py
index c72f24f30e2..858a4101416 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/commands/__init__.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/commands/__init__.py
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@
         "FreezeCommand",
         "Output installed packages in requirements format.",
     ),
+    "inspect": CommandInfo(
+        "pip._internal.commands.inspect",
+        "InspectCommand",
+        "Inspect the python environment.",
+    ),
     "list": CommandInfo(
         "pip._internal.commands.list",
         "ListCommand",
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/commands/inspect.py b/src/pip/_internal/commands/inspect.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a4e3599306e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/commands/inspect.py
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+import logging
+from optparse import Values
+from typing import Any, Dict, List
+
+from pip._vendor.packaging.markers import default_environment
+from pip._vendor.rich import print_json
+
+from pip import __version__
+from pip._internal.cli import cmdoptions
+from pip._internal.cli.req_command import Command
+from pip._internal.cli.status_codes import SUCCESS
+from pip._internal.metadata import BaseDistribution, get_environment
+from pip._internal.utils.compat import stdlib_pkgs
+from pip._internal.utils.urls import path_to_url
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class InspectCommand(Command):
+    """
+    Inspect the content of a Python environment and produce a report in JSON format.
+    """
+
+    ignore_require_venv = True
+    usage = """
+      %prog [options]"""
+
+    def add_options(self) -> None:
+        self.cmd_opts.add_option(
+            "--local",
+            action="store_true",
+            default=False,
+            help=(
+                "If in a virtualenv that has global access, do not list "
+                "globally-installed packages."
+            ),
+        )
+        self.cmd_opts.add_option(
+            "--user",
+            dest="user",
+            action="store_true",
+            default=False,
+            help="Only output packages installed in user-site.",
+        )
+        self.cmd_opts.add_option(cmdoptions.list_path())
+        self.parser.insert_option_group(0, self.cmd_opts)
+
+    def run(self, options: Values, args: List[str]) -> int:
+        logger.warning(
+            "pip inspect is currently an experimental command. "
+            "The output format may change in a future release without prior warning."
+        )
+
+        cmdoptions.check_list_path_option(options)
+        dists = get_environment(options.path).iter_installed_distributions(
+            local_only=options.local,
+            user_only=options.user,
+            skip=set(stdlib_pkgs),
+        )
+        output = {
+            "version": "0",
+            "pip_version": __version__,
+            "installed": [self._dist_to_dict(dist) for dist in dists],
+            "environment": default_environment(),
+            # TODO tags? scheme?
+        }
+        print_json(data=output)
+        return SUCCESS
+
+    def _dist_to_dict(self, dist: BaseDistribution) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        res: Dict[str, Any] = {
+            "metadata": dist.metadata_dict,
+            "metadata_location": dist.info_location,
+        }
+        # direct_url. Note that we don't have download_info (as in the installation
+        # report) since it is not recorded in installed metadata.
+        direct_url = dist.direct_url
+        if direct_url is not None:
+            res["direct_url"] = direct_url.to_dict()
+        else:
+            # Emulate direct_url for legacy editable installs.
+            editable_project_location = dist.editable_project_location
+            if editable_project_location is not None:
+                res["direct_url"] = {
+                    "url": path_to_url(editable_project_location),
+                    "dir_info": {
+                        "editable": True,
+                    },
+                }
+        # installer
+        installer = dist.installer
+        if dist.installer:
+            res["installer"] = installer
+        # requested
+        if dist.installed_with_dist_info:
+            res["requested"] = dist.requested
+        return res
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/metadata/base.py b/src/pip/_internal/metadata/base.py
index 10a6c489783..151fd6d009e 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/metadata/base.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/metadata/base.py
@@ -311,6 +311,10 @@ def installer(self) -> str:
                 return cleaned_line
         return ""
 
+    @property
+    def requested(self) -> bool:
+        return self.is_file("REQUESTED")
+
     @property
     def editable(self) -> bool:
         return bool(self.editable_project_location)
diff --git a/tests/functional/test_inspect.py b/tests/functional/test_inspect.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..464bdbaa11e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/test_inspect.py
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+import json
+
+import pytest
+
+from tests.conftest import ScriptFactory
+from tests.lib import PipTestEnvironment, TestData
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
+def simple_script(
+    tmpdir_factory: pytest.TempPathFactory,
+    script_factory: ScriptFactory,
+    shared_data: TestData,
+) -> PipTestEnvironment:
+    tmpdir = tmpdir_factory.mktemp("pip_test_package")
+    script = script_factory(tmpdir.joinpath("workspace"))
+    script.pip(
+        "install",
+        "-f",
+        shared_data.find_links,
+        "--no-index",
+        "simplewheel==1.0",
+    )
+    return script
+
+
+def test_inspect_basic(simple_script: PipTestEnvironment) -> None:
+    """
+    Test default behavior of inspect command.
+    """
+    result = simple_script.pip("inspect", allow_stderr_warning=True)
+    report = json.loads(result.stdout)
+    installed = report["installed"]
+    assert len(installed) == 4
+    installed_by_name = {i["metadata"]["name"]: i for i in installed}
+    assert installed_by_name.keys() == {
+        "pip",
+        "setuptools",
+        "coverage",
+        "simplewheel",
+    }
+    assert installed_by_name["simplewheel"]["metadata"]["version"] == "1.0"
+    assert installed_by_name["simplewheel"]["requested"] is True
+    assert installed_by_name["simplewheel"]["installer"] == "pip"
+    assert "environment" in report