Systems and methods for managing DNS services include a DNS management module defining a user interface, at least one generic DNS agent receiving a management command from the user interface of the DNS management module, and at least one external DNS server receiving a request from the at least one generic DNS agent corresponding to the management command, the at least one generic DNS agent implementing a capability-based API to define service specific operations of the at least one external DNS server. The management command may include an API call corresponding to a generic capability or a service specific operation defined in the capability-based API, and the capability-based API may include a gRPC API.