findFirst3ByStatusOrderByCreatedDateDescString

findFirst3BySt is a method name convention used in Spring Data JPA repositories to automatically generate database queries based on the method signature. The prefix “find” indicates a read operation, and the “First3” portion requests that only the first three matching records be returned, with the ordering implicitly defined by additional clauses such as OrderBy or a default column. The remaining part, often starting with “St”, typically refers to a field in the entity, for example “Status”. A complete method might be findFirst3ByStatusOrderByCreatedDateDesc, which would retrieve the three most recent records whose status matches a given value.

This convention is part of Spring Data JPA’s query derivation mechanism, which parses the method name, extracts keywords, and translates them into JPQL or SQL. Developers only need to declare the method in a repository interface that extends JpaRepository or another Spring Data repository interface; the framework provides the implementation at runtime.

Using a numeric limit like 3 is useful for pagination, previews, or performance optimisation when only a small subset of data is needed. However, the keyword cannot be combined with multiple precedence operators without explicit support; for complex queries, developers may still prefer @Query annotations or the Criteria API. Overall, findFirst3BySt style methods offer a concise way to express simple, limited fetches while keeping codebase declarative and free of boilerplate query code.