diff --git a/imx8mp-npu-pose/README.md b/imx8mp-npu-pose/README.md
index c5dad8a..cb6df38 100644
--- a/imx8mp-npu-pose/README.md
+++ b/imx8mp-npu-pose/README.md
@@ -70,6 +70,12 @@ to pixels (no letterbox math).
   tail has a couple of reduce/gather ops that may land on CPU — negligible, but
   if the graph fragments badly, PoseNet (pure-conv heatmaps + NNStreamer's
   built-in `mode=pose_estimation` decoder) is the drop-in fallback.
+  The 8M Plus has no build-time check for this. Where a target's SDK includes
+  Vela (`nativesdk-ethos-u-vela`, added through a `target-<name>:` override),
+  `app-compile.sh` also runs `check-op-placement.sh`, which prints Vela's CPU vs
+  NPU operator counts and the CPU ops, and fails the build when the CPU share
+  passes `MAX_CPU_PCT` (default 15). Vela 5.2.0 puts 29 of this model's 221
+  operators (13.1%) on the CPU, all of them decode and quantize boundary ops.
 - **uint8 input:** if a MoveNet export resists `inference_input_type=uint8`
   (its SavedModel input is int32), see `quantize-model.py` — wrap with a float
   input layer or fall back to PoseNet.
diff --git a/imx8mp-npu-pose/app-compile.sh b/imx8mp-npu-pose/app-compile.sh
index 39d556a..9ef234c 100755
--- a/imx8mp-npu-pose/app-compile.sh
+++ b/imx8mp-npu-pose/app-compile.sh
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ fi
 
 "$QPY" quantize-model.py "$MODEL_DIR" "$REP_DIR" "$OUT_DIR/movenet_int8.tflite"
 
+# Reports the CPU/NPU op split where Vela is in the SDK (i.MX93); skipped elsewhere.
+./check-op-placement.sh "$OUT_DIR/movenet_int8.tflite"
+
 echo ""
 echo "Quantization complete:"
 ls -lh "$OUT_DIR/"
diff --git a/imx8mp-npu-pose/check-op-placement.sh b/imx8mp-npu-pose/check-op-placement.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..e5eaa68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/imx8mp-npu-pose/check-op-placement.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Report which ops Vela leaves on the CPU for the INT8 model, and fail the build
+# when the CPU share of operators is over a limit. Vela only exists in the SDK on
+# targets that add it through a target-<name>: override in avocado.yaml, so this
+# is a no-op everywhere else (the 8M Plus runs through the VX delegate, which has
+# no Vela step).
+#
+# MoveNet's decode (ArgMax, GatherNd, Sigmoid, casts and the quantize/dequantize
+# boundaries) stays on the CPU by design. Measured with Vela 5.2.0 on this
+# model: 29 CPU operators of 221 (13.1%). The default limit is a regression guard
+# just above that, not a target; raise it with MAX_CPU_PCT if the model changes.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+MODEL="${1:?usage: check-op-placement.sh <model.tflite>}"
+MAX_CPU_PCT="${MAX_CPU_PCT:-15}"
+OUT_DIR="$(dirname "$MODEL")/vela"
+SUMMARY="$OUT_DIR/vela-summary.txt"
+
+if ! command -v vela >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "vela not in this SDK; skipping op-placement report"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+# awk falls back to string comparison on a non-number (5% would never fail).
+if ! [[ "$MAX_CPU_PCT" =~ ^[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?$ ]]; then
+    echo "ERROR: MAX_CPU_PCT must be a number, got '$MAX_CPU_PCT'" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+mkdir -p "$OUT_DIR"
+vela --accelerator-config ethos-u65-256 --show-cpu-operations \
+    --output-dir "$OUT_DIR" "$MODEL" >"$SUMMARY"
+
+# The full per-op listing (NPU ops included) stays in $SUMMARY; the build log
+# gets the counts and the CPU ops only.
+grep -E '^(CPU|NPU) operators = |^   CPU: ' "$SUMMARY" || true
+
+cpu_line="$(grep -E '^CPU operators = ' "$SUMMARY")" || {
+    echo "ERROR: no operator summary in Vela output; see $SUMMARY" >&2
+    exit 1
+}
+cpu_pct="$(sed -E 's/.*\( *([0-9.]+)%\).*/\1/' <<<"$cpu_line")"
+
+echo ""
+echo "Op placement: $cpu_line (limit ${MAX_CPU_PCT}%)"
+if awk -v p="$cpu_pct" -v m="$MAX_CPU_PCT" 'BEGIN { exit !(p > m) }'; then
+    echo "ERROR: CPU op share ${cpu_pct}% is over ${MAX_CPU_PCT}%; see $SUMMARY" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi