diff --git a/templates/lookup.html b/templates/lookup.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35af1b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/lookup.html
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+{% extends "layout.html" %}
+{% import 'utils.html' as utils %}
+{% block title %}Lookup - {{ config.NAME }}{% endblock %}
+{% block content %}
+<div id="container">
+{% include "header.html" %}
+<div style="margin-top:50px;">
+
+<form id="lookup-form" method="POST">
+	 <input type="hidden" name="csrf_token" value="{{ csrf_token() }}"/>
+     <input type="text" name="url" value="{{url or '' }}" placeholder="https://url-of-a-user-or-a-note.tld">
+	<input type="submit" value="Lookup">
+</form>
+
+{% if data %}
+{% set data = data.to_dict() %}
+<div id="lookup-result" style="margin-top:30px;">
+    {% if data | has_type('Person') or data | has_type('Service') %}
+<div style="margin-left:95px;padding-bottom:5px;margin-bottom:15px;">
+<form action="/api/follow" class="action-form"  method="POST">
+<input type="hidden" name="redirect" value="{{ request.path }}"/>
+<input type="hidden" name="actor" value="{{ data.id }}"/>
+<input type="hidden" name="csrf_token" value="{{ csrf_token() }}"/>
+<button type="submit" class="bar-item">follow</button>
+</form>
+        </div>
+
+
+    {{ utils.display_actor_inline(data, size=80) }}
+    {% elif data | has_type('Create') %}
+	{{ utils.display_note(data.object, ui=True) }}
+    {% elif data | has_type('Note') %}
+	{{ utils.display_note(data, ui=True) }}
+    {% endif %}
+</div>
+{% endif %}
+
+</div>
+</div>
+{% endblock %}
diff --git a/utils/lookup.py b/utils/lookup.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..65c2c19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/lookup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+import little_boxes.activitypub as ap
+import json
+import requests
+
+import mf2py
+
+
+def lookup(url: str) -> ap.BaseActivity:
+    """Try to find an AP object related to the given URL."""
+    backend = ap.get_backend()
+    resp = requests.get(
+        url,
+        timeout=15,
+        allow_redirects=False,
+        headers={"User-Agent": backend.user_agent()},
+    )
+    resp.raise_for_status()
+
+    # If the page is HTML, maybe it contains an alternate link pointing to an AP object
+    for alternate in mf2py.parse(resp.text).get("alternates", []):
+        if alternate.get("type") == "application/activity+json":
+            return ap.fetch_remote_activity(alternate["url"])
+
+    try:
+        # Maybe the page was JSON-LD?
+        data = resp.json()
+        return ap.parse_activity(data)
+    except json.JSONDecodeError:
+        pass
+
+    # Try content negotiation (retry with the AP Accept header)
+    return ap.fetch_remote_activity(url)