diff --git a/apps/wakunode2/app.nim b/apps/wakunode2/app.nim
index c50a63ed88..cde2d3c524 100644
--- a/apps/wakunode2/app.nim
+++ b/apps/wakunode2/app.nim
@@ -135,16 +135,16 @@ proc init*(T: type App, rng: ref HmacDrbgContext, conf: WakuNodeConf): T =
       error "failed to parse content topic", error=res.error
       quit(QuitFailure)
 
-  let pubsubTopicsRes = contentTopicsRes.mapIt(singleHighestWeigthShard(it.get()))
+  let shardsRes = contentTopicsRes.mapIt(singleHighestWeigthShard(it.get()))
 
-  for res in pubsubTopicsRes:
+  for res in shardsRes:
     if res.isErr():
       error "failed to shard content topic", error=res.error
       quit(QuitFailure)
 
-  let pubsubTopics = pubsubTopicsRes.mapIt($it.get())
+  let shards = shardsRes.mapIt($it.get())
 
-  let topics = pubsubTopics & conf.pubsubTopics
+  let topics = conf.topics & conf.pubsubTopics & shards
 
   let addShardedTopics = enrBuilder.withShardedTopics(topics)
   if addShardedTopics.isErr():
@@ -360,7 +360,12 @@ proc setupProtocols(node: WakuNode,
     peerExchangeHandler = some(handlePeerExchange)
 
   if conf.relay:
-    let pubsubTopics = conf.pubsubTopics
+    # TODO autoshard content topics only once.
+    # Already checked for errors in app.init
+    let contentTopics = conf.contentTopics.mapIt(NsContentTopic.parse(it).expect("Parsing"))
+    let shards = contentTopics.mapIt($(singleHighestWeigthShard(it).expect("Sharding")))
+
+    let pubsubTopics = conf.topics & conf.pubsubTopics & shards
     try:
       await mountRelay(node, pubsubTopics, peerExchangeHandler = peerExchangeHandler)
     except CatchableError:
diff --git a/apps/wakunode2/external_config.nim b/apps/wakunode2/external_config.nim
index 18a083908a..338dfe308f 100644
--- a/apps/wakunode2/external_config.nim
+++ b/apps/wakunode2/external_config.nim
@@ -225,9 +225,13 @@ type
       defaultValue: false
       name: "keep-alive" }: bool
 
+    topics* {.
+      desc: "Default topic to subscribe to. Argument may be repeated. Deprecated! Please use pubsub-topic and/or content-topic instead."
+      defaultValue: @["/waku/2/default-waku/proto"]
+      name: "topic" .}: seq[string]
+
     pubsubTopics* {.
       desc: "Default pubsub topic to subscribe to. Argument may be repeated."
-      defaultValue: @["/waku/2/default-waku/proto"]
       name: "pubsub-topic" .}: seq[string]
 
     contentTopics* {.
diff --git a/tests/wakunode2/test_app.nim b/tests/wakunode2/test_app.nim
index f63a9ee3e7..1779d8cfca 100644
--- a/tests/wakunode2/test_app.nim
+++ b/tests/wakunode2/test_app.nim
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ proc defaultTestWakuNodeConf(): WakuNodeConf =
     metricsServerAddress: ValidIpAddress.init("127.0.0.1"),
     nat: "any",
     maxConnections: 50,
-    pubsubTopics: @["/waku/2/default-waku/proto"],
+    topics: @["/waku/2/default-waku/proto"],
     relay: true
   )