diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9c7223ef0..ec835643e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -65,6 +65,11 @@ caused a function callback in file descriptor group to execute.
 Added API `spdk_json_write_double` and `spdk_json_write_named_double` to allow
 for writing and decoding of the the double data type.
 
+### thread
+
+Added `spdk_thread_get_app_thread` which returns the first thread that was created using
+`spdk_thread_create`.
+
 ## v22.09
 
 ### accel
diff --git a/include/spdk/thread.h b/include/spdk/thread.h
index 121d93f84..168f46044 100644
--- a/include/spdk/thread.h
+++ b/include/spdk/thread.h
@@ -231,6 +231,10 @@ void spdk_thread_lib_fini(void);
 /**
  * Creates a new SPDK thread object.
  *
+ * Note that the first thread created via spdk_thread_create() will be designated as
+ * the app thread.  Other SPDK libraries may place restrictions on certain APIs to
+ * only be called in the context of this app thread.
+ *
  * \param name Human-readable name for the thread; can be retrieved with spdk_thread_get_name().
  * The string is copied, so the pointed-to data only needs to be valid during the
  * spdk_thread_create() call. May be NULL to specify no name.
@@ -242,6 +246,15 @@ void spdk_thread_lib_fini(void);
  */
 struct spdk_thread *spdk_thread_create(const char *name, const struct spdk_cpuset *cpumask);
 
+/**
+ * Return the app thread.
+ *
+ * The app thread is the first thread created using spdk_thread_create().
+ *
+ * \return a pointer to the app thread, or NULL if no thread has been created yet.
+ */
+struct spdk_thread *spdk_thread_get_app_thread(void);
+
 /**
  * Force the current system thread to act as if executing the given SPDK thread.
  *
@@ -260,7 +273,10 @@ void spdk_set_thread(struct spdk_thread *thread);
  * this function. This function will complete these processing. The completion can
  * be queried by spdk_thread_is_exited().
  *
- * \param thread The thread to destroy.
+ * Note that this function must not be called on the app thread until after it
+ * has been called for all other threads.
+ *
+ * \param thread The thread to exit.
  *
  * \return always 0. (return value was deprecated but keep it for ABI compatibility.)
  */
diff --git a/lib/thread/Makefile b/lib/thread/Makefile
index 13b06c35f..359d5aa70 100644
--- a/lib/thread/Makefile
+++ b/lib/thread/Makefile
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ SPDK_ROOT_DIR := $(abspath $(CURDIR)/../..)
 include $(SPDK_ROOT_DIR)/mk/spdk.common.mk
 
 SO_VER := 7
-SO_MINOR := 0
+SO_MINOR := 1
 
 C_SRCS = thread.c
 LIBNAME = thread
diff --git a/lib/thread/spdk_thread.map b/lib/thread/spdk_thread.map
index 672f2183e..0e48a2c3c 100644
--- a/lib/thread/spdk_thread.map
+++ b/lib/thread/spdk_thread.map
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 	spdk_thread_lib_init_ext;
 	spdk_thread_lib_fini;
 	spdk_thread_create;
+	spdk_thread_get_app_thread;
 	spdk_set_thread;
 	spdk_thread_exit;
 	spdk_thread_is_exited;
diff --git a/lib/thread/thread.c b/lib/thread/thread.c
index 2071cf89e..58b410fce 100644
--- a/lib/thread/thread.c
+++ b/lib/thread/thread.c
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@
 #define SPDK_MAX_POLLER_NAME_LEN	256
 #define SPDK_MAX_THREAD_NAME_LEN	256
 
+static struct spdk_thread *g_app_thread;
+
 enum spdk_poller_state {
 	/* The poller is registered with a thread but not currently executing its fn. */
 	SPDK_POLLER_STATE_WAITING,
@@ -377,21 +379,25 @@ spdk_thread_lib_fini(void)
 		SPDK_ERRLOG("io_device %s not unregistered\n", dev->name);
 	}
 
-	if (g_spdk_msg_mempool) {
-		spdk_mempool_free(g_spdk_msg_mempool);
-		g_spdk_msg_mempool = NULL;
-	}
-
 	g_new_thread_fn = NULL;
 	g_thread_op_fn = NULL;
 	g_thread_op_supported_fn = NULL;
 	g_ctx_sz = 0;
+	if (g_app_thread != NULL) {
+		_free_thread(g_app_thread);
+		g_app_thread = NULL;
+	}
+
+	if (g_spdk_msg_mempool) {
+		spdk_mempool_free(g_spdk_msg_mempool);
+		g_spdk_msg_mempool = NULL;
+	}
 }
 
 struct spdk_thread *
 spdk_thread_create(const char *name, const struct spdk_cpuset *cpumask)
 {
-	struct spdk_thread *thread;
+	struct spdk_thread *thread, *null_thread;
 	struct spdk_msg *msgs[SPDK_MSG_MEMPOOL_CACHE_SIZE];
 	int rc = 0, i;
 
@@ -482,9 +488,23 @@ spdk_thread_create(const char *name, const struct spdk_cpuset *cpumask)
 
 	thread->state = SPDK_THREAD_STATE_RUNNING;
 
+	/* If this is the first thread, save it as the app thread.  Use an atomic
+	 * compare + exchange to guard against crazy users who might try to
+	 * call spdk_thread_create() simultaneously on multiple threads.
+	 */
+	null_thread = NULL;
+	__atomic_compare_exchange_n(&g_app_thread, &null_thread, thread, false,
+				    __ATOMIC_SEQ_CST, __ATOMIC_SEQ_CST);
+
 	return thread;
 }
 
+struct spdk_thread *
+spdk_thread_get_app_thread(void)
+{
+	return g_app_thread;
+}
+
 void
 spdk_set_thread(struct spdk_thread *thread)
 {
@@ -578,6 +598,7 @@ spdk_thread_is_exited(struct spdk_thread *thread)
 void
 spdk_thread_destroy(struct spdk_thread *thread)
 {
+	assert(thread != NULL);
 	SPDK_DEBUGLOG(thread, "Destroy thread %s\n", thread->name);
 
 	assert(thread->state == SPDK_THREAD_STATE_EXITED);
@@ -586,7 +607,10 @@ spdk_thread_destroy(struct spdk_thread *thread)
 		tls_thread = NULL;
 	}
 
-	_free_thread(thread);
+	/* To be safe, do not free the app thread until spdk_thread_lib_fini(). */
+	if (thread != g_app_thread) {
+		_free_thread(thread);
+	}
 }
 
 void *