diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 878fcb7..73b679c 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
 name = "meshcore"
-version = "2.1.6"
+version = "2.1.7"
 authors = [
   { name="Florent de Lamotte", email="florent@frizoncorrea.fr" },
   { name="Alex Wolden", email="awolden@gmail.com" },
diff --git a/src/meshcore/commands/device.py b/src/meshcore/commands/device.py
index 73ba033..5e39dcf 100644
--- a/src/meshcore/commands/device.py
+++ b/src/meshcore/commands/device.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import logging
+from hashlib import sha256
 from typing import Optional
 
 from ..events import Event, EventType
@@ -184,7 +185,7 @@ class DeviceCommands(CommandHandlerBase):
         return await self.send(data, [EventType.CHANNEL_INFO, EventType.ERROR])
 
     async def set_channel(
-        self, channel_idx: int, channel_name: str, channel_secret: bytes
+        self, channel_idx: int, channel_name: str, channel_secret: bytes = None
     ) -> Event:
         logger.debug(f"Setting channel {channel_idx}: name={channel_name}")
 
@@ -192,6 +193,9 @@ class DeviceCommands(CommandHandlerBase):
         name_bytes = channel_name.encode("utf-8")[:32]
         name_bytes = name_bytes.ljust(32, b"\x00")
 
+        if channel_name.startswith("#") or channel_secret is None: # auto name => key calculated from hash
+            channel_secret = sha256(channel_name.encode("utf-8")).digest()[0:16]
+
         # Ensure channel secret is exactly 16 bytes
         if len(channel_secret) != 16:
             raise ValueError("Channel secret must be exactly 16 bytes")