diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index c38876b..eb5a2af 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ PATH
 GEM
   remote: https://rubygems.org/
   specs:
-    activesupport (8.0.2)
+    activesupport (8.0.3)
       base64
       benchmark (>= 0.3)
       bigdecimal
@@ -27,48 +27,50 @@ GEM
       tzinfo (~> 2.0, >= 2.0.5)
       uri (>= 0.13.1)
     ast (2.4.3)
-    base64 (0.2.0)
-    benchmark (0.4.0)
-    bigdecimal (3.1.9)
+    base64 (0.3.0)
+    benchmark (0.4.1)
+    bigdecimal (3.3.1)
     concurrent-ruby (1.3.5)
-    connection_pool (2.5.0)
-    csv (3.3.3)
+    connection_pool (2.5.4)
+    csv (3.3.5)
     date (3.4.1)
-    debug (1.10.0)
+    debug (1.11.0)
       irb (~> 1.10)
       reline (>= 0.3.8)
-    diff-lcs (1.6.1)
+    diff-lcs (1.6.2)
     docile (1.4.1)
-    drb (2.2.1)
-    ffi (1.17.1-arm64-darwin)
-    ffi (1.17.1-x86_64-linux-gnu)
+    drb (2.2.3)
+    erb (5.1.1)
+    ffi (1.17.2-arm64-darwin)
+    ffi (1.17.2-x86_64-linux-gnu)
     fileutils (1.7.3)
     i18n (1.14.7)
       concurrent-ruby (~> 1.0)
-    io-console (0.8.0)
+    io-console (0.8.1)
     irb (1.15.2)
       pp (>= 0.6.0)
       rdoc (>= 4.0.0)
       reline (>= 0.4.2)
-    json (2.10.2)
-    language_server-protocol (3.17.0.4)
+    json (2.15.1)
+    language_server-protocol (3.17.0.5)
     lint_roller (1.1.0)
     listen (3.9.0)
       rb-fsevent (~> 0.10, >= 0.10.3)
       rb-inotify (~> 0.9, >= 0.9.10)
     logger (1.7.0)
-    minitest (5.25.5)
+    minitest (5.26.0)
     mutex_m (0.3.0)
-    parallel (1.26.3)
-    parser (3.3.7.4)
+    parallel (1.27.0)
+    parser (3.3.9.0)
       ast (~> 2.4.1)
       racc
-    pg (1.5.9)
-    pp (0.6.2)
+    pg (1.6.2-arm64-darwin)
+    pg (1.6.2-x86_64-linux)
+    pp (0.6.3)
       prettyprint
     prettyprint (0.2.0)
-    prism (1.4.0)
-    psych (5.2.3)
+    prism (1.6.0)
+    psych (5.2.6)
       date
       stringio
     racc (1.8.1)
@@ -76,20 +78,22 @@ GEM
     rb-fsevent (0.11.2)
     rb-inotify (0.11.1)
       ffi (~> 1.0)
-    rbs (3.9.2)
+    rbs (3.9.5)
       logger
-    rdoc (6.13.1)
+    rdoc (6.15.0)
+      erb
       psych (>= 4.0.0)
-    regexp_parser (2.10.0)
-    reline (0.6.1)
+      tsort
+    regexp_parser (2.11.3)
+    reline (0.6.2)
       io-console (~> 0.5)
-    rspec-core (3.13.3)
+    rspec-core (3.13.6)
       rspec-support (~> 3.13.0)
-    rspec-expectations (3.13.3)
+    rspec-expectations (3.13.5)
       diff-lcs (>= 1.2.0, < 2.0)
       rspec-support (~> 3.13.0)
-    rspec-support (3.13.2)
-    rubocop (1.75.2)
+    rspec-support (3.13.6)
+    rubocop (1.80.2)
       json (~> 2.3)
       language_server-protocol (~> 3.17.0.2)
       lint_roller (~> 1.1.0)
@@ -97,10 +101,10 @@ GEM
       parser (>= 3.3.0.2)
       rainbow (>= 2.2.2, < 4.0)
       regexp_parser (>= 2.9.3, < 3.0)
-      rubocop-ast (>= 1.44.0, < 2.0)
+      rubocop-ast (>= 1.46.0, < 2.0)
       ruby-progressbar (~> 1.7)
       unicode-display_width (>= 2.4.0, < 4.0)
-    rubocop-ast (1.44.0)
+    rubocop-ast (1.47.1)
       parser (>= 3.3.7.2)
       prism (~> 1.4)
     rubocop-performance (1.25.0)
@@ -109,18 +113,18 @@ GEM
       rubocop-ast (>= 1.38.0, < 2.0)
     ruby-progressbar (1.13.0)
     securerandom (0.4.1)
-    sequel (5.91.0)
+    sequel (5.97.0)
       bigdecimal
     simplecov (0.22.0)
       docile (~> 1.1)
       simplecov-html (~> 0.11)
       simplecov_json_formatter (~> 0.1)
-    simplecov-html (0.13.1)
+    simplecov-html (0.13.2)
     simplecov_json_formatter (0.1.4)
-    standard (1.49.0)
+    standard (1.51.1)
       language_server-protocol (~> 3.17.0.2)
       lint_roller (~> 1.0)
-      rubocop (~> 1.75.2)
+      rubocop (~> 1.80.2)
       standard-custom (~> 1.0.0)
       standard-performance (~> 1.8)
     standard-custom (1.0.2)
@@ -146,16 +150,17 @@ GEM
       strscan (>= 1.0.0)
       terminal-table (>= 2, < 5)
       uri (>= 0.12.0)
-    stringio (3.1.6)
-    strscan (3.1.2)
+    stringio (3.1.7)
+    strscan (3.1.5)
     terminal-table (4.0.0)
       unicode-display_width (>= 1.1.1, < 4)
+    tsort (0.2.0)
     tzinfo (2.0.6)
       concurrent-ruby (~> 1.0)
-    unicode-display_width (3.1.4)
-      unicode-emoji (~> 4.0, >= 4.0.4)
-    unicode-emoji (4.0.4)
-    uri (1.0.3)
+    unicode-display_width (3.2.0)
+      unicode-emoji (~> 4.1)
+    unicode-emoji (4.1.0)
+    uri (1.0.4)
 
 PLATFORMS
   arm64-darwin-22
@@ -174,4 +179,4 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   steep
 
 BUNDLED WITH
-   2.4.20
+   2.6.7
diff --git a/lib/client.rb b/lib/client.rb
index 4fb8df6..b5a8949 100644
--- a/lib/client.rb
+++ b/lib/client.rb
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ def insert_many(args)
       [int].pack("Q").unpack1("q") #: Integer # rubocop:disable Layout/LeadingCommentSpace
     end
 
-    TAG_RE = /\A[\w][\w\-]+[\w]\z/
+    TAG_RE = /\A\w[\w-]+\w\z/
     private_constant :TAG_RE
 
     private def validate_tags(tags)
diff --git a/scripts/update_gemspec_version.rb b/scripts/update_gemspec_version.rb
index f9ad413..689a135 100644
--- a/scripts/update_gemspec_version.rb
+++ b/scripts/update_gemspec_version.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 version = version[1..] # strip `v` from the beginning of the string
 
-updated_file_data = file_data.gsub(%r{^(\W+)s\.version = "[\d\.]+"$}, %(\\1s.version = "#{version}"))
+updated_file_data = file_data.gsub(%r{^(\W+)s\.version = "[\d.]+"$}, %(\\1s.version = "#{version}"))
 
 abort("failure: nothing changed in file") if file_data == updated_file_data
 
diff --git a/spec/client_spec.rb b/spec/client_spec.rb
index 1f392a3..2c7a3f6 100644
--- a/spec/client_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/client_spec.rb
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ def to_json = nil
         client.insert(SimpleArgs.new(job_num: 1), insert_opts: River::InsertOpts.new(
           tags: ["no,commas,allowed"]
         ))
-      end.to raise_error(ArgumentError, 'tag should match regex /\A[\w][\w\-]+[\w]\z/')
+      end.to raise_error(ArgumentError, 'tag should match regex /\A\w[\w-]+\w\z/')
     end
 
     def check_bigint_bounds(int)