How do I get my certificate to self sign using CA?

I asked this question on Stack Overflow and it was suggested I post it here instead. I'm new to the OpenSSL and Node community and could use some help on some commands.

I'm working on a node application where users can input their information and get a browser certificate to hit an application I have on my server. I want the user to be able to put in their information once, then have a browser cert download (in other words, all the commands need to run with no more user input. So the cert signs it self, verifies that it's correct, etc etc).

I have the three commands using child processes in Node and OpenSSL and I'm trying to translate them over to node, but I'm having some issues.

My first command is set up to get variables from the user, and it runs fine:

sudo openssl req -new -nodes -out /etc/pki/tls/request/bdd-req.pem -keyout /etc/pki/tls/private/bdd-key.pem -subj "/C='+country+'/ST='+state+'/L='+locality+'/O='+organization+'/CN='+name+'" -passout pass:'+password+' -x509 -days 365 -config /etc/pki/tls/openssl.cnf

However when the second command runs, I get an error:

sudo openssl ca -out /etc/pki/tls/cert-pem/bdd-cert.pem -days 365 -config /etc/pki/tls/openssl.cnf -passin pass:*PASSWORD* -keyfile /etc/pki/tls/private/cakey.pem -cert /etc/pki/tls/cacert.pem -selfsign -infiles /etc/pki/tls/request/bdd-req.pem


Error: Command failed: Using configuration from /etc/pki/tls/openssl.cnf
Error reading certificate request in /etc/pki/tls/mapedit-req-pem/bdd-req.pem
140052424636320:error:0906D06C:PEM routines:PEM_read_bio:no start line:pem_lib.c:703:Expecting: CERTIFICATE REQUEST

at ChildProcess.exithandler (child_process.js:658:15)
at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:98:17)
at maybeClose (child_process.js:766:16)
at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (child_process.js:833:5)

What is the CERTIFICATE REQUEST it's asking for? Isn't that the cert flag?

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