Live network sandboxing on a centralized management system

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for predicting policy changes in a network environment through a data serialization language. Running configurations of one or more network devices in a network environment can be collected. Further, a master device template of a new policy for the network environment can be generated through a data serialization language based on the running configurations of the one or more network devices. The master device template can include a directory-based tree structure of a simulated implementation of the new policy in the network environment. Policy changes in the network environment for the new policy can be predicted before implementing the new policy in the network environment based on simulated packet traversal through the directory-based tree structure of the simulated implementation of the policy in the network environment.