Example method includes: receiving a plurality of intent-based network policies in a network, wherein each intent-based policy comprises at least a rule and an action to be performed by a network function on a network packet in response to the rule being matched; identifying a set of header address spaces comprising a plurality of addresses that match to a same set of rules and actions; creating an atomic address object representing the identified set of header address spaces; and verifying the plurality of intent-based network policies using the atomic address object.