  We perform a comprehensive search for optical precursor emission at the
position of SN~2023ixf using data from the DLT40, ZTF and ATLAS surveys. By
comparing the current data set with precursor outburst hydrodynamical model
light curves, we find that the probability of a significant outburst within
five years of explosion is low, and the circumstellar material (CSM) ejected
during any possible precursor outburst is likely smaller than $\sim$0.015\msun.
By comparing to a set of toy models, we find that, if there was a precursor
outburst, the duration must have been shorter than $\sim$100 days for a typical
brightness of $M_{r}\simeq-9$ mag or shorter than 200 days for $M_{r}\simeq-8$
mag; brighter, longer outbursts would have been discovered. Precursor activity
like that observed in the normal type II SN~2020tlf ($M_{r}\simeq-11.5$) can be
excluded in SN~2023ixf. If the dense CSM inferred by early flash spectroscopy
and other studies is related to one or more precursor outbursts, then our
observations indicate that any such outburst would have to be faint and only
last for days to months, or it occurred more than five years prior to the
explosion. Alternatively, any dense, confined CSM may not be due to eruptive
mass loss from a single red supergiant (RSG) progenitor. Taken together, the
results of SN~2023ixf and SN~2020tlf indicate that there may be more than one
physical mechanism behind the dense CSM inferred around some normal type II
SNe.
