Methods and apparatus for enabling detection of configuration changes in a network device. One method uses a configuration counter in a system database of the network device. In response to an atomic submission of CLI commands to a configuration agent and the storing of the corresponding configuration in a system database, the configuration counter is incremented. An OpenConfig module maintains an expected value of the configuration counter and, upon completion of its own command submissions, compares the expected value to the value in the configuration counter. If the two values do not match, it indicates that the configuration counter in the system database has been incremented as a result of a configuration change from a source other than the OpenConfig module. A configuration client can then be notified of the configuration change so that it can revert the configuration to a desired configuration.