Open Library Search API works in Test but results will not render in ListView or PagedListView

Hi everyone, I am hoping someone with deeper FlutterFlow experience can help, as I seem to be stuck in a loop and I am not able to edit generated code directly.

What I am trying to do

I am building a simple search page in FlutterFlow.

A TextField takes a search term, calls the Open Library Search API, and displays book titles in a ListView or PagedListView.

For now, I only want to display the title field. No author, no images, no pagination logic beyond what FlutterFlow provides.

The API itself works

I have tested the API call inside FlutterFlow using the “Test API Call” button and it returns a successful 200 response every time.

Example response structure (shortened):

{
  "docs": [
    {
      "title": "Sarah, plain and tall",
      "author_name": ["Patricia MacLachlan"]
    },
    {
      "title": "Cyrano de Bergerac",
      "author_name": ["Edmond Rostand"]
    }
  ]
}

So the API is confirmed working and returning valid data.

The main problem

The ListView never displays the actual titles.

Instead, it either:

• Shows the literal text $.title

• Shows nothing

• Shows default placeholder text

• Or does not update at all when searching

Even after deleting $.docs[:].title and switching the API JSON Path to $.docs, and then binding the Text widget to $.title, the UI does not change.

FlutterFlow does not allow me to manually type new JSON paths in some places, and I cannot directly edit the generated Dart code.

Important limitation

I cannot edit the generated widget or model code directly.

Any fix needs to be done inside the FlutterFlow UI only.

What I suspect

It feels like either:

• The ListView is not actually iterating over the API response

• Or FlutterFlow is not refreshing the ListView when the search runs

• Or the API JSON Paths and ListView binding are out of sync in a way the UI does not surface

What I am asking for help with

• What is the correct FlutterFlow UI setup (no code edits) to display search results from Open Library

• Whether PagedListView is the wrong widget for this use case

• Whether a regular ListView with an API Query is required instead

• Any known FlutterFlow quirks when using API responses with ListView

If anyone has a working example or can point out the exact missing step, I would really appreciate it. I have been trying for several days and the API itself is definitely not the issue.

Thank you in advance.