Unable to decode client tag project resource

Today this pop up appeared on our development gateway

Unable to decode client tag project resource. WARNING: Saving in this Designer session will permanently overwrite the existing resource. Contact [Support](https://links.inductiveautomation.com/support) for assistance.

And the details

com.inductiveautomation.ignition.common.xmlserialization.SerializationException: Unexpected parsing error during XML deserialization.
	at com.inductiveautomation.ignition.common.xmlserialization.deserialization.XMLDeserializer.deserializeXML(XMLDeserializer.java:416)
	at com.inductiveautomation.ignition.common.xmlserialization.deserialization.XMLDeserializer.deserialize(XMLDeserializer.java:279)
	at com.inductiveautomation.ignition.common.xmlserialization.deserialization.XMLDeserializer.deserialize(XMLDeserializer.java:257)
	at com.inductiveautomation.factorypmi.application.FPMIApp.decodeProjectResource(FPMIApp.java:452)
	at com.inductiveautomation.factorypmi.application.FPMIApp.createApp(FPMIApp.java:285)
	at com.inductiveautomation.factorypmi.designer.model.VisionDesignerImpl.createRoot(VisionDesignerImpl.java:678)
	at com.inductiveautomation.factorypmi.designer.model.VisionDesignerImpl.startup(VisionDesignerImpl.java:363)
	at com.inductiveautomation.ignition.designer.IgnitionDesigner$LoadedModule.startup(IgnitionDesigner.java:1986)
	at com.inductiveautomation.ignition.designer.IgnitionDesigner.startupModule(IgnitionDesigner.java:1198)
	at com.inductiveautomation.ignition.designer.IgnitionDesigner.lambda$loadProject$7(IgnitionDesigner.java:997)
	at java.base/java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp$OfRef.accept(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline$2$1.accept(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.util.ArrayList$ArrayListSpliterator.forEachRemaining(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.copyInto(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.wrapAndCopyInto(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp.evaluateSequential(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp$OfRef.evaluateSequential(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.evaluate(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline.forEach(Unknown Source)
	at com.inductiveautomation.ignition.designer.IgnitionDesigner.loadProject(IgnitionDesigner.java:996)
	at com.inductiveautomation.ignition.designer.IgnitionDesigner$StartupProjectDialogHandler.lambda$new$2(IgnitionDesigner.java:2050)
	at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException; lineNumber: 1; columnNumber: 1; Content is not allowed in prolog.
	at java.xml/com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
	at java.xml/com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
	at com.inductiveautomation.ignition.common.xmlserialization.deserialization.XMLDeserializer.deserializeXML(XMLDeserializer.java:402)
	... 21 more

Ignition v8.1.30 (b2023071408)
Java: Azul Systems, Inc. 11.0.18

Any idea what does this means?

Something's wrong with your client tags. Your best bet is going to be to:

  1. Take a gateway and/or project backup. Try to compare against any old ones you have for the client tags resource.
  2. Contact our support department.