CoRE is a rule based engine.
See here for a good intro: CoRE for Dummies (How to get started and make your first Piston)
My thought process as follows:
You really need to modify the device handler (or find someone who will). Using a thermostat device handler to control a z-wave switch is a bit cumbersome, there’s a load of redundant controls (temperature set point for example) and to turn the unit on/off I had to cycle a single button in the device through four press:
- Heat (this turned the unit on
- Cool (did nothing)
- not sure about this one but the device button changed from cool to –
- Off (this turned the device off
Using CoRE would allow you to setup some simple logic to turn the unit on/off at certain times or based on some other inout (motion). It would also allow you to apply other logic such as don’t heat when I set the mode to Away. Depending on your use case this may sufficient.