diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fbe81d3..ec27a40 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ options:
 ```
 ### ADD
 ```
-usage: knotctl add [-h] -d DATA -n NAME -r RTYPE -t TTL -z ZONE
+usage: knotctl add [-h] -d DATA -n NAME -r RTYPE [-t TTL] -z ZONE
 
 options:
   -h, --help            show this help message and exit
diff --git a/scripts/knotctl b/scripts/knotctl
index 3418c7b..31a011c 100755
--- a/scripts/knotctl
+++ b/scripts/knotctl
@@ -115,9 +115,16 @@ def run_delete(url: str, jsonout: bool, headers: dict):
     output(reply, jsonout)
 
 
-def run_list(url: str, jsonout: bool, headers: dict):
+def run_list(url: str,
+             jsonout: bool,
+             headers: dict,
+             ret=False) -> Union[None, str]:
     response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
-    output(response.json(), jsonout)
+    string = response.json()
+    if ret:
+        return string
+    else:
+        output(string, jsonout)
 
 
 def run_update(url: str, jsonout: bool, headers: dict):
@@ -182,7 +189,7 @@ def main() -> int:
     addcmd.add_argument("-d", "--data", required=True)
     addcmd.add_argument("-n", "--name", required=True)
     addcmd.add_argument("-r", "--rtype", required=True)
-    addcmd.add_argument("-t", "--ttl", required=True)
+    addcmd.add_argument("-t", "--ttl")
     addcmd.add_argument("-z", "--zone", required=True)
 
     completecmd = subparsers.add_parser("completion")
@@ -261,6 +268,16 @@ def main() -> int:
         ttl = args.ttl
     if args.command != "update":
         args.argument = None
+    if args.command == "add" and not ttl:
+        if args.zone.endswith('.'):
+            zname = args.zone
+        else:
+            zname = args.zone + '.'
+        soa_url = setup_url(baseurl, None, None, zname, "SOA", None,
+                            args.zone)
+        soa_json = run_list(soa_url, True, headers, ret=True)
+        ttl = soa_json[0]["ttl"]
+
     try:
         url = setup_url(baseurl, args.argument, args.data, args.name,
                         args.rtype, ttl, args.zone)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b3dd815..aad690d 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ with open("README.md", "r", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
 
 setuptools.setup(
     name="knotctl",
-    version="0.0.4",
+    version="0.0.5",
     packages = setuptools.find_packages(),
     author="Micke Nordin",
     author_email="hej@mic.ke",