Depending on exactly which PicketLink features you'd like to use, getting started can be as simple as adding the PicketLink jar libraries to your project (see Section 1.6, “Maven Dependencies” below for more info) and writing a few lines of code. To get started using PicketLink Identity Management to manage the users and other identity objects in your application, you can head straight to Section 3.2, “Getting Started - The 5 Minute Guide”. If you don't wish to use PicketLink IDM but would like to use PicketLink for authentication in your Java EE application but control the authentication process yourself then head to Section 2.3.1, “A Basic Authenticator” for simplistic example which you may adapt for your own application. If you wish to use SAML SSO then you can head to Chapter 13, Federation.

Here's some additional resources also to help you get started: