This is how you declare a typed variable:
my Int $x;
Here, a scalar container $x may only hold an integer value. Attempts to assign it a value that is not an integer leads to an error:
my Int $x; $x = "abc"; # Error: Type check failed in assignment to '$x'; ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย # expected 'Int' but got 'Str'
For typecasts, a respective method call is quite handy. Remember that while $x holds an integer, it is treated as a container object as a whole, which is why you may use some predefined methods on it. The same you can do directly on a string. For example:
my Int $x; $x = "123".Int; # Now this is OK say $x; # 123