diff --git a/napari_plugin_manager/npe2api.py b/napari_plugin_manager/npe2api.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..24e01f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/napari_plugin_manager/npe2api.py
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+"""
+These convenience functions will be useful for searching pypi for packages
+that match the plugin naming convention, and retrieving related metadata.
+"""
+
+import json
+from collections.abc import Iterator
+from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
+from functools import lru_cache
+from typing import (
+    Optional,
+    TypedDict,
+    cast,
+)
+from urllib.error import HTTPError, URLError
+from urllib.request import Request, urlopen
+
+from napari.plugins.utils import normalized_name
+from napari.utils.notifications import show_warning
+from npe2 import PackageMetadata
+from typing_extensions import NotRequired
+
+PyPIname = str
+
+
+@lru_cache
+def _user_agent() -> str:
+    """Return a user agent string for use in http requests."""
+    import platform
+
+    from napari import __version__
+    from napari.utils import misc
+
+    if misc.running_as_constructor_app():
+        env = 'constructor'
+    elif misc.in_jupyter():
+        env = 'jupyter'
+    elif misc.in_ipython():
+        env = 'ipython'
+    else:
+        env = 'python'
+
+    parts = [
+        ('napari', __version__),
+        ('runtime', env),
+        (platform.python_implementation(), platform.python_version()),
+        (platform.system(), platform.release()),
+    ]
+    return ' '.join(f'{k}/{v}' for k, v in parts)
+
+
+class _ShortSummaryDict(TypedDict):
+    """Objects returned at https://npe2api.vercel.app/api/extended_summary ."""
+
+    name: NotRequired[PyPIname]
+    version: str
+    summary: str
+    author: str
+    license: str
+    home_page: str
+
+
+class SummaryDict(_ShortSummaryDict):
+    display_name: NotRequired[str]
+    pypi_versions: NotRequired[list[str]]
+    conda_versions: NotRequired[list[str]]
+
+
+def plugin_summaries() -> list[SummaryDict]:
+    """Return PackageMetadata object for all known napari plugins."""
+    url = 'https://npe2api.vercel.app/api/extended_summary'
+    with urlopen(Request(url, headers={'User-Agent': _user_agent()})) as resp:
+        return json.load(resp)
+
+
+@lru_cache
+def conda_map() -> dict[PyPIname, Optional[str]]:
+    """Return map of PyPI package name to conda_channel/package_name ()."""
+    url = 'https://npe2api.vercel.app/api/conda'
+    with urlopen(Request(url, headers={'User-Agent': _user_agent()})) as resp:
+        return json.load(resp)
+
+
+def iter_napari_plugin_info() -> Iterator[tuple[PackageMetadata, bool, dict]]:
+    """Iterator of tuples of ProjectInfo, Conda availability for all napari plugins."""
+    try:
+        with ThreadPoolExecutor() as executor:
+            data = executor.submit(plugin_summaries)
+            _conda = executor.submit(conda_map)
+
+        conda = _conda.result()
+        data_set = data.result()
+    except (HTTPError, URLError):
+        show_warning(
+            'There seems to be an issue with network connectivity. '
+            'Remote plugins cannot be installed, only local ones.\n'
+        )
+        return
+
+    conda_set = {normalized_name(x) for x in conda}
+    for info in data_set:
+        info_copy = dict(info)
+        info_copy.pop('display_name', None)
+        pypi_versions = info_copy.pop('pypi_versions')
+        conda_versions = info_copy.pop('conda_versions')
+        info_ = cast(_ShortSummaryDict, info_copy)
+
+        # TODO: use this better.
+        # this would require changing the api that qt_plugin_dialog expects to
+        # receive
+
+        # TODO: once the new version of npe2 is out, this can be refactored
+        # to all the metadata includes the conda and pypi versions.
+        extra_info = {
+            'home_page': info_.get('home_page', ''),
+            'display_name': info.get('display_name', ''),
+            'pypi_versions': pypi_versions,
+            'conda_versions': conda_versions,
+        }
+        info_['name'] = normalized_name(info_['name'])
+        meta = PackageMetadata(**info_)  # type:ignore[call-arg]
+
+        yield meta, (info_['name'] in conda_set), extra_info
diff --git a/napari_plugin_manager/qt_plugin_dialog.py b/napari_plugin_manager/qt_plugin_dialog.py
index 3568846..d86762a 100644
--- a/napari_plugin_manager/qt_plugin_dialog.py
+++ b/napari_plugin_manager/qt_plugin_dialog.py
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 from napari._qt.qthreading import create_worker
 from napari._qt.widgets.qt_message_popup import WarnPopup
 from napari._qt.widgets.qt_tooltip import QtToolTipLabel
-from napari.plugins.npe2api import iter_napari_plugin_info
 from napari.plugins.utils import normalized_name
 from napari.settings import get_settings
 from napari.utils.misc import (
@@ -42,6 +41,7 @@
 )
 from superqt import QCollapsible, QElidingLabel
 
+from napari_plugin_manager.npe2api import iter_napari_plugin_info
 from napari_plugin_manager.qt_package_installer import (
     InstallerActions,
     InstallerQueue,