diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index dd5571d2..edf812c3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 ## Unreleased
 - Fix url used for fetching streams
 - Return `is_end_sequence` on stream fetch
+- Make `transform_tag` optional on `create bucket`
 - Retry `put_emails` requests
 
-
 ## v0.20.0
 
 - Add ability to get dataset stats
diff --git a/cli/src/commands/create/bucket.rs b/cli/src/commands/create/bucket.rs
index 89206420..f7f4f8b1 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands/create/bucket.rs
+++ b/cli/src/commands/create/bucket.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use crate::printer::Printer;
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use log::info;
+use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
 use reinfer_client::{BucketFullName, BucketType, Client, NewBucket, TransformTag};
 use structopt::StructOpt;
 
@@ -21,9 +22,12 @@ pub struct CreateBucketArgs {
     #[structopt(long = "transform-tag")]
     /// Set the transform tag of the new bucket. You will be given this value
     /// by a Re:infer engineer.
-    transform_tag: TransformTag,
+    transform_tag: Option<TransformTag>,
 }
 
+static DEFAULT_TRANSFORM_TAG: Lazy<TransformTag> =
+    Lazy::new(|| TransformTag("generic.0.CONVKER5".to_string()));
+
 pub fn create(client: &Client, args: &CreateBucketArgs, printer: &Printer) -> Result<()> {
     let CreateBucketArgs {
         name,
@@ -32,6 +36,12 @@ pub fn create(client: &Client, args: &CreateBucketArgs, printer: &Printer) -> Re
         transform_tag,
     } = args;
 
+    let transform_tag = &if let Some(transform_tag) = transform_tag {
+        transform_tag.clone()
+    } else {
+        DEFAULT_TRANSFORM_TAG.clone()
+    };
+
     let bucket = client
         .create_bucket(
             name,