diff --git a/examples/nvme/fio_plugin/README.md b/examples/nvme/fio_plugin/README.md
index 7e3dc6881..cadd732f9 100644
--- a/examples/nvme/fio_plugin/README.md
+++ b/examples/nvme/fio_plugin/README.md
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ To select NVMe devices, you simply pass an identifier as the filename in the for
 Remember that NVMe namespaces start at 1, not 0! Also, the notation uses '.' throughout,
 not ':'. For example - 0000.04.00.0/1.
 
-Currently the fio_plugin is limited to a single thread, so only one job is supported.
+Currently the SPDK fio plugin is limited to a single thread, so only one job is supported.
+fio jobs must also specify thread=1 when using the SPDK fio plugin.
 
 When testing random workloads, it is recommended to set norandommap=1.  fio's random map
 processing consumes extra CPU cycles which will degrade performance over time with
diff --git a/examples/nvme/fio_plugin/fio_plugin.c b/examples/nvme/fio_plugin/fio_plugin.c
index 7a501428b..db24795b7 100644
--- a/examples/nvme/fio_plugin/fio_plugin.c
+++ b/examples/nvme/fio_plugin/fio_plugin.c
@@ -179,6 +179,11 @@ static int spdk_fio_setup(struct thread_data *td)
 	struct spdk_fio_thread *fio_thread;
 	struct spdk_env_opts opts;
 
+	if (!td->o.use_thread) {
+		log_err("spdk: must set thread=1 when using spdk plugin\n");
+		return 1;
+	}
+
 	fio_thread = calloc(1, sizeof(*fio_thread));
 	assert(fio_thread != NULL);