Creating new Instance with a Through association Sails.js/waterline - sails.js

Question

In my model I have a many-to-many-through association between User, Program through ProgramStaff:
User.js:
module.exports = {
attributes: {
username: {
type: 'string',
required: true,
unique: true
},
programs: {
collection: 'Program',
via: 'program',
through: 'programstaff'
}
}
}
Program.js:
module.exports = {
attributes: {
name: {
type: 'string'
},
personnel:{
collection : 'User',
via: 'user',
through: 'programstaff'
}
}
}
ProgramStaff.js:
module.exports = {
attributes: {
program: {
model: 'Program'
},
user: {
model: 'User'
},
permissions: {
type: 'integer'
}
},
tableName: 'program_staff'
};
(I need to program-staff through table to hold some sort of permissions and a user-program based, otherwise, I'd just use a regular many-to-many association).
My question is - can I create a new User' and associate with (existing)Program` using the rest or shortcuts routes?
I've tried to send
user.programs = [programId]; // doesn't do anything (or error)
//or
user.programs = [{program: progamId}]; // creates new program even though I send valid id of existing program
//or
user.programs = [{program: { id: progamId}}]; // error
But neither seem to create the ProgramStaff record.
P.S. I know I can do it with a User.create and a nested ProgramStaff.create calls within a route, or a Create and then Update rest/shortcut calls but I was wondering about a "automatic" way to do that.