diff --git a/SPEC/DAG.md b/SPEC/DAG.md
index 354e8a5d2..e97aa583c 100644
--- a/SPEC/DAG.md
+++ b/SPEC/DAG.md
@@ -15,11 +15,15 @@
 ##### `JavaScript` - ipfs.dag.put(dagNode, options, callback)
 
 - `dagNode` - a DAG node that follows one of the supported IPLD formats.
-- `options` - a object that might contain the follwing values:
+- `options` - a object that might contain the following values:
     - `format` - The IPLD format multicodec.
     - `hashAlg` - The hash algorithm to be used over the serialized dagNode.
   - or
     - `cid` - the CID of the node passed.
+  - or
+  - if no `options` are given, `ipfs.dag.put()` uses the following defaults:
+    - `format: 'dag-cbor'`
+    - `hashAlg: 'sha2-256'`
   - **Note** - You should only pass the CID or the format + hashAlg pair and not both
 - `callback` must follow `function (err, cid) {}` signature, where `err` is an error if the operation was not successful and CID is the CID generated through the process or the one that was passed
 
diff --git a/js/src/dag/put.js b/js/src/dag/put.js
index dadcf6afa..02563d81d 100644
--- a/js/src/dag/put.js
+++ b/js/src/dag/put.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ const dagPB = require('ipld-dag-pb')
 const DAGNode = dagPB.DAGNode
 const dagCBOR = require('ipld-dag-cbor')
 const CID = require('cids')
+const multihash = require('multihashes')
 const { spawnNodeWithId } = require('../utils/spawn')
 const { getDescribe, getIt, expect } = require('../utils/mocha')
 
@@ -113,6 +114,19 @@ module.exports = (createCommon, options) => {
       })
     })
 
+    it('should not fail when calling put without options', (done) => {
+      ipfs.dag.put(cborNode, done)
+    })
+
+    it('should set defaults when calling put without options', (done) => {
+      ipfs.dag.put(cborNode, (err, cid) => {
+        expect(err).to.not.exist()
+        expect(cid.codec).to.equal('dag-cbor')
+        expect(multihash.decode(cid.multihash).name).to.equal('sha2-256')
+        done()
+      })
+    })
+
     it.skip('should put by passing the cid instead of format and hashAlg', (done) => {})
 
     // TODO it.skip('Promises support', (done) => {})