That is how I would expect it to work (though I’m not familiar with your specific model), and that is how my heat pump behaves (though it does not always behave as I expect it to). So, in theory, you can just leave it on and it’ll do it’s thing, but in practice (even with my modern one), it’s sometimes necessary to override what the heat pump brain is doing (i.e. with a simple room stat).
See this thread by MrForest about not running the heat pump all the time.
It’s a combination of both. My system, when there’s a call for heat, will turn on the pumps and look at the flow temps. If the temps are below the target temp, then it’ll start the compressor. However, if the room stat stops calling for heat soon after (which mine does, annoyingly), then my HP will continue running at its lowest possible power (1 kW) for 20 minutes before shutting off. Your system is likely to have it’s own behaviour model, which will be easier to determine once you have some metering on it.
Once every few hours (or even once an hour) would work well, assuming it’s running for a decent length of time.